Alabama Man Charged WIth Exploitation Of Elderly Florida Couple

The Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office has charged a Mobile Alabama man with exploitation of the elderly in connection with paving work he did on the victims’ driveways.

55-year old Robert Manuel Jeffery of 5780 Jackson Road went to the home of a Baker couple in their eighties on February 8th, 2010 and offered to pave their driveway for two dollars a square yard. The couple gave Jeffery five hundred dollars up front. After the work was done Jeffery told the couple they owed him six-thousand dollars. He said he could not provide a receipt. Investigators say the work was very shoddy and that consultation with a local asphalt company employee indicated the couple, both in their eighties, were charged nearly double what they should have had to pay.

In a second incident dated March 29th, Jeffery asked an 87-year old Baker man to allow him to pave his driveway but the man declined. A short time later Jeffery again knocked on the door and the driveway work had been done anyway.

Jeffery then pressured the victim for four-hundred dollars which he reluctantly paid by check. An acquaintance of the victim learned what had happened and stopped payment on the check.

Bank surveillance video showed Jeffery was the person who attempted to cash the check. Investigators say the substance on the driveway did not visibly seal the rocks and grass it was placed on and could be easily disturbed.

Warrants charging Jeffery with two felony counts of exploitation of the elderly were served November 2nd. Bond was set at fifteen-thousand dollars.