A man who lives south of Gerald said he was recently conned out of several hundreds of dollars by what he considers a con man. 

The man, who wishes to remain anonymous, said a man in his late thirties,who identified himself as Joe Baker,pulled into his driveway a couple of months ago. He was driving a battered pickup truck and asked the man if he would like him to remove a dead tree on his property. He told the man he would take down the tree, grind the stump and clean up the mess for $800. 

When Joe was ready to begin the job, he told the man he would like half the money up front, and other half at the end of the job. The man agreed and wrote a check. Some sort of paperwork was also completed between the two men.

Joe took down the tree and then disappeared. At first he responded to the man’s texts, but always had an excuse as to why he couldn’t come finish the job that day.  Eventually, he just quit responding at all. 

Now, the man is left with a downed tree and weeds growing up all around it. There is no way for the man to get in and mow around the trunk or between the fallen branches. It has become an eyesore the man can’t fix.

The man reported the incident to the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office who came and took a report. The man gave the investigating deputy a copy of the cashed check he had written to Joe Baker, with his endorsement on the back. He also provided a copy of the check to
The Republican. 

 The man realizes he will probably have to hire someone else to finish the job for which he hired Joe Baker. He said he wanted to make his story public so that others in the area would not fall for the same scam. 

It is always good practice to hire someone who has references you can verify.