He tricked a 75-year-old man into paying $68K for yard work never performed, charges say

Jul. 19—A 57-year-old man is accused of offering landscaping services to an 75-year-old man with dementia and taking thousands of dollars from his bank account without performing any work.

Timothy Roosevelt Baugh was charged on Wednesday with first-degree theft from a vulnerable adult, first-degree theft and failure to obtain a business license, court records show. He is scheduled to appear at Pierce County Superior Court for an arraignment on July 31.

The alleged scam began when Baugh knocked on the door of a 101-year-old woman’s home in Lakewood on Dec. 4, 2023, charging document show. Her partner, a 75-year-old man, answered the door.

Baugh told the man he noticed his yard was overgrown, and he offered landscaping services. The resident thought it would be a nice gift to his partner to get the yard cleaned up, so he agreed. His partner was in rapidly declining health at the time, prosecutors wrote.

Baugh asked the man for money up front to start the job and said he needed tools and a truck. The man went with Baugh to an ATM, where he allegedly withdrew $500 from his bank account, prosecutors wrote. For the next month (every day or two) Baugh would ask the man for additional money for the job.

On every occasion, Baugh would drive the man to the bank or ATM. That happened about 14 times, prosecutors wrote. Sometimes they would go to the bank drive-thru, and other times they would go inside.

The withdrawals were generally in the amounts of $8,000 or $9,000. Bank employees became suspicious and filed a complaint with Adult Protective Services. Investigators learned the man paid Baugh $68,900 between Dec. 4, 2023 and Jan. 18, 2024. No yard work was ever done, documents show.

When the man was interviewed, he was confused about the dates and times of the events. He also struggled to recall conversations or explain why he would agree to pay Baugh so much money. His partner went on hospice and died during that time, prosecutors wrote.

Prosecutors wrote that the man believed all the money paid to Baugh would be used for the landscaping project. The man was unable to comprehend the scope and amount of money paid to Baugh, prosecutors wrote.

The man realized after his partner’s death and a discussion with his family that he was being taken advantage of. The man lived on a fixed income, and Baugh allegedly kept calling to ask for more money, prosecutors wrote. Adult Protective Services gave a mental status assessment to the man, and his score indicated that he has dementia.

The investigation showed that Baugh did not have a current license to do landscaping or yard work in Lakewood. He has not had an active business license for over five years, documents show.

Baugh has been convicted for similar crimes over several years. He pleaded guilty to second-degree theft in December 2021 for tricking a 75-year-old man out of $13,000 for landscaping work that was never completed in Tacoma.

Another instance happened in 2018 in Lakewood where Baugh convinced a 90-year-old woman to write him checks in the amounts of over $900 in the pretense of doing some yard work, prosecutors wrote.

The woman told detectives she could not recall how he convinced her to write the checks, but at one point remembered him standing close to her in an intimidating fashion, prosecutors wrote. The yard work was never done.

Baugh pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree theft in that case.

Baugh was in community custody at the time of the December 2023 to January 2024 incidents.

This story was originally published July 19, 2024, 5:00 AM.