Home Improvement Scam Bilks Member for $4K

By Derrill Holly | ECT Staff WriterPublished: March 17th, 2014

An electric cooperative in Kentucky is warning its members about a lightning rod scam that investigators said cost one member thousands of dollars.

'We don't even sell lightning rods,' said Rich Prewitt, member services director of Cumberland Valley Electric. 'None of our service representatives, technicians, linemen or other personnel ever pick up money from members in the field.'

But authorities said a man wearing an orange work vest turned up at the Whitley County home of a Cumberland Valley Electric consumer-member in February and informed the resident that he was there to install lightning rods to protect the home.

Once the work was completed, he informed the homeowner that the cost for the material and services was $8,000. When the owner balked at the charge, he dropped the amount to $4,000 and explained that he would lose his job if he didn't get the money.

'The victim wrote a check to Mark Anthony Adams for the $4,000,' Sheriff Colan Harrell told ECT.coop. He said surveillance video taken at a local bank Feb. 20 shows Adams, still wearing the vest, cashing the check at a teller's window.

Adams, 21, of London, Ky., has been the subject of a manhunt since warrants were issued by authorities March 10.

'We have warrants out for Adams for theft by deception,' said Harrell. 'We have reached out to the public to determine if there are other similar incidents out there.'

The lightning rod scam might have gone undetected had Adams not shown up at his alleged victim's home a second time with a chain saw demanding money to cut trees on the property weeks later. This time the member called 911.

'The homeowner asked him to leave and contacted the Whitley County Sheriff's Department, which led to the investigation,' said Harrell.

A sheriff's department lieutenant contacted Cumberland Valley Electric in Gray and confirmed that Adams is not employed by the co-op and is not authorized to cut trees on its behalf.

'We spend millions of dollars on vegetation management to keep our rights of way clean,' said Cumberland's Prewitt. When a member needs tree work, the co-op secures its lines and encourages its member-owners to hire professionals, he added.

'All of our trucks and other vehicles are marked with the Cumberland Valley Electric logo,' Prewitt said. 'All of our employees wear co-op uniforms and have identification badges bearing their names, so if there are ever any questions, they just have to call us.'