Roofing scam suspect arrested in Florida

A Gainesville man, Joshua Michael Bell, wanted by felony warrants issued by Sherman Police Department and others by Cooke County Sheriffs Office, has been arrested in Florida, and is being held there to be returned to Grayson County Jail.

Bell was one of two men identified as a suspect in a roofing scam that bilked at least two Sherman elderly women of several thousand dollars earlier this year. Sherman police Detectives Rob Ballew and John Phares had been working the case for weeks and obtained the arrest warrants. They learned that Cooke County S.O. investigators also had similar investigations going on, and the two agencies paired up in the investigations. Sgt. Bruce Dawsey said that joining the efforts since have been the U.S. Marshal Service and the Joint North Texas Fugitive Task Force.

Bell was arrested at a motel in Lantana, Palm Beach County, Florida, by Lantana police. He currently is in the Palm Beach (Florida) County Jail, awaiting arraignment as of Wednesday afternoon. Dawsey said he has no information yet on whether the suspect has been presented with or signed waiver of extradition, or whether he will fight being returned to Texas. In that case, a Texas Governors warrant will be sought for Bells return, and that could postpone his return for weeks.

Two Sherman victims identified Bell in photo line-ups, police said earlier, and another man is yet unidentified. The court documents used to obtain the arrest warrants described the scams as being almost identical in nature.

Two men would go to the door of an elderly person and represent themselves as being with a roofing company, named in the documents. One man told them, the documents stated, that the warranty on their roofs were about to expire and he was there to check the roof for needed repairs. Then, the documents continue, he would tell them there was a need for repairs, that they would do the repairs, and that the victim would only be responsible for labor costs.

In one incident, the resident paid one man $2,350 cash on a $4,800 bill. The next day, he returned, the documents continued, and threatened to repossess her home if she didnt pay him the balance. The victim took out loans and gave him another $1,000.

Then, a few days later, she received a call from a man proclaiming to be a Sherman police detective who stated, according to the documents, that they were conducting a sting to catch the roofing scam artist. She was to pay him more money, and after he received it, the police would arrest him and return her money. She gave Bell more money, but no police and no arrest. She learned she had been scammed when she called the police station with questions.

A couple of weeks later, two men appeared before another resident with the same story, and stole about $1,200 from her on the original visit and another $2,800 in part two of the scam, the bogus police sting. She, too, called police after realizing she had been deceived. She even had receipts that the person she identified as Bell had given her for the cash.

The three warrants obtained charge Bell with theft between $1,500-$20,000 and with theft of property between $500-$1,500. Dawsey said earlier that Cooke County also has a warrant charging him with theft of a firearm. He also said that the police department have information that there are warrants in place against Bell issued in Louisiana.

Texas Department of Corrections spokesman Jason Clark said that the Texas Board of Pardons & Paroles issued a parole violation warrant for Bells arrest on Feb. 15, after a previous Florida arrest on a charge of unlawful possession of a firearm.

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Roofing scam suspect arrested in Florida