ROCHESTER, Minn. (FOX 47)-- Two men are now in custody after targeting the elderly and allegedly swindling them out of money.
They come to homes, offering to do handy work, don't actually do it, but quickly cash the checks.
89-year-old Dorothy Hoeft was out mowing her lawn when she was approached by two men offering to check the insulation in her home.
Dorothy says, "And he said it could have mold in it...so I got the step ladder out for him and he got up and got a handful of insulation and he's going to test it, but he went down to his pick-up and walked right back and said it's got mold in it."
In this case Dorothy was the perfect victim, after losing her husband last fall to COPD. She explains, "He had such a terrible time breathing that I thought that if it had mold maybe that's what affected him and I didn't want it to affect me."
So Dorothy let the men do the work and when they left she wrote them out a check for $750, but moments later a gut feeling was telling her something didn't seem right.
Dorothy's grandson happened to be there when the was suspicious activity was under way.
Dan Hoeft states, "I came in and asked what was going on and they said 'Well we're putting some urethane insulation in to help put some extra insulation in the home."
A different story than they had told Dorothy.
Dan decided to check the work for himself, but once he got into the attic he noticed nothing had been done. Dorothy and her grandson started warning those in the area
Days later the suspects were at it again, offering their services to an elderly couple in Potsdam, but that's when a neighbor took action.
Olmsted County deputies arrested 26-year-old James Wilson of Rochester and 18-year-old Charles Wardrop of London-Ontario.
Dan says, "If we can protect people like my grandma from things like happening again that's great."
