MINNETONKA, Minn. — Two men with ties to England and Ireland are now in federal custody after allegedly posing as a legitimate local contractor and doing thousands of dollars in damage to a home in Minnetonka.
According to Minnetonka Police, the arrests could also help begin to untangle a much larger web of fraud that has spanned the region, and impacted other local businesses.
None of it would have been possible without the help of an 88-year-old homeowner who helped police organize a sting.
"I wanted something done," said the woman, who asked not to be identified by KARE11. "I had a chimney that had a hole in it, so I was ready to do whatever had to be done."
The homeowner says the men first approached her last Friday. She says they came to her front door and offered a free, emergency chimney inspection based on issues they claimed they could see from above.
"They told me they had drones going over the houses and they detected that my chimney had cracks in it," the homeowner said. "I was skeptical but I thought it was possible."
The homeowner said one of the men, who called himself Jonathan, then gave her a business card saying he worked for Advantage Construction. A quick search showed it was a real local company with really good reviews.
Homeowner: "It looked legitimate so I thought, 'Well, okay.'"
Kent Erdahl: "So you trusted the name?"
Homeowner: "I trusted the name."
But when the men returned the next day, she said that trust began to crumble.
Homeowner: "They just put a ladder up and went up on my roof, and then he showed me a picture of my chimney that had a big hole in it."
Erdahl: "This chunk of brinks in your yard, this the part of your chimney that you're talking about? That was missing?"
Homeowner: "Yes. That was, just, loose and fell out."
Erdahl: "That's what they said."
Homeowner: "Yeah."
It's then, that she began piecing together holes in their story, so she went back to the Advantage Construction website and noticed the phone number didn't match. So she called the company directly.
"We were immediately concerned," said Advantage Construction General Manager Don Patnode. "This was the second (call) we had in just the matter of a couple days."
Patnode says they received a similar story from a man who was given the same fake business card in Minneapolis. In that case, the homeowner in Minneapolis didn't let anyone on the roof.
Erdahl: "How much damage did they do here (in Minnetonka)?"
Patnode: "We're estimating, right now, around $7,500 on that chimney, but we don't know how far into the house it goes."
The homeowner also contacted Minnetonka Police, and told them that she had requested a contract from the imposters.
"This was the contract that they offered," said Capt. Andy Gardner, showing off a handwritten piece of notebook paper full of misspellings, which requested a $4,000 deposit. "In our business, we would call that a clue."
Fortunately, Gardner says the homeowner kept in touch with the men, and arranged a meeting on Tuesday.
Gardner says several detectives were both inside and outside the home and made several arrests.
"We took two adults into custody, but there were also two juvenile boys with them," said Capt. Andy Gardner, with the Minnetonka Police Dept. "The children, and at least one of the adults had flags on their names as known fraudsters with the Federal Government. The way we understand it, they are using the kids to go knock on the door, presumably to be less threatening for the homeowner."
Gardner says it took help from the Department of Homeland Security to understand who they had in custody.
"It was really difficult to identify them because they produced a number of fraudulent travel documents, passports," he said. "The Department of Homeland Security was critical."
He says it appears they are UK residents, originally from Ireland.
"The children, and at least one of the adults had flags on their names as known fraudsters with the federal government," Gardner said.
Two weeks ago, KARE11 reported on a group of men with Irish accents who did tens of thousands of dollars in damage to the roofs of homes in Robbinsdale and Roseville, while impersonating a different, reputable local company, KeyPrime Roofing.
Erdahl: "Do you believe any of these things might be related?"
Capt. Gardner: "I think they are directly related, yes, so I would encourage anybody seeing this that thinks they may have encountered the people that we're talking about today or been scammed by a roofing or chimney contractor, to contact their local police department."
He says the homeowner in Minnetonka shows the difference a single call can make.
Erdahl: "It's one thing to call police, it's another to be part of a sting."
Gardner: "True. It took some fortitude on her part."
"She's a hero," Patnode said. "Not only did she help our company today, she helped a lot of companies in Minnesota, but more importantly, she helped a lot of homeowners."
Advantage Construction is helping the homeowner fix the damage to her chimney.
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