Mount Prospect man on probation for defrauding seniors arrested again
A 25-year-old Mount Prospect man on probation for swindling seniors in Palatine and Mount Prospect faces new charges of bilking an Arlington Heights couple out of more than $4,000.
Cook County prosecutors charged Rocky Reed, of the 500 block of Ida Court, with home repair fraud after they say he charged Arlington Heights homeowners an inflated price for minor repairs to a cement area near their garage. They also charged him with violating his probation.
Cook County Judge Jill Cerone Marisie on Thursday set Reed’s bail at $60,000 total -- $10,000 for the new offense and $50,000 for violating his probation. He must post $6,000 to be released from custody.
Reed approached the married couple, who are in their 70s, at their home on July 23, offering to repair the cement, said Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney Moe Ahmad. Reed told the couple the cement cost $69 per pound and that he needed 10 pounds for a total of $690, Ahmad said. Reed subsequently charged the homeowners $4,300 for the work which was “superficial in nature,” Ahmad said.
Not long after, the couple noticed cracks in the cement. Around the same time, they read an article about Reed in the Daily Herald and contacted Arlington Heights police, who began investigating, Ahmad said.
In an interview with police, Reed admitted he overcharged the homeowners, saying he did so to support his wife and children, Ahmad said.
Reed was sentenced on Aug. 13 to 24 months probation after he admitted to a 2012 incident in which he swindled a 93-year-old Mount Prospect woman out of $1,200 for repairs to her front porch which he failed to do. At that same Aug. 13 hearing, Reed admitted taking hundreds of dollars earlier this year from a Palatine man for unnecessary chimney repairs. The judge who sentenced Reed to probation ordered that the sentences be served concurrently.
Defense attorney Robert Irsuto objected to his client being charged with violating his probation, saying this latest alleged offense occurred in July, about three weeks before Reed pleaded guilty and was sentenced on the other charges.
Reed next appears in court on Oct. 4.