PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- A Jacksonville Beach man wanted for taking advantage of two elderly families has been arrested.
Bryan Keith Ruby, 42,of Umatilla, is accused of offering repair work on the golf cart of a 67-year-old Ponte Vedra woman. St. Johns County investigators say he took $360 from her but never completed the work. He was found today in Lake County. He turned himself in at the Lake County Sheriff's Office on a local charge.
Police believe Ruby pulled a similar scam on an elderly couple with a pool. He told them they needed a part that cost about $1,000. After receiving the money, he failed to return to fix the issue. According to the report, the couple had already given Ruby a loan of $3,200 because he indicated he had a sick wife who needed an insulin pump. In this instance, he repaid just $400.
Ruby will be held on two counts of exploitation of the elderly from St. Johns County as well. Detectives contributed the quick arrest to the publicity of the investigation. Anonymous information led detectives to the Lake County area where Ruby has relatives residing. Ruby is charged with scamming over $300 from a 67-year old Ponte Vedra Beach woman in July. The suspect, who had been performing landscaping work at the victim's Lake Julia Drive South residence, in April, advised that he could replace a back seat of her golf cart.
The victim paid the suspect $360 and never received the seat. The victim discovered that the suspect had been fired from the landscaping company and that he allegedly had been scamming numerous other elderly people in the Northeast Florida area. St. Johns County detective Hank Miller has identified other victims with similar stories of the suspect scamming them out of various amounts of money and is continuing the investigation.
Ruby was served the two warrants in Lake County. The bonds total $10,000.
