Minnesota man accused of financially exploiting elderly Cape woman

A man charged a 74-year-old Cape Girardeau woman more than $12,000 for subpar exterior house work and planned to charge her $10,000 more to spray for termites, according to a Cape Girardeau police statement.

Cape Girardeau police arrested Lon Raymond Stielow, 59, of Saint Paul, Minnesota, on Thursday. The Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney’s office charged Stielow with financial exploitation of the elderly.

Stielow’s bond was set at $30,000 cash.

Police were contacted by a friend of the victim Nov. 13, according to a probable-cause statement filed in the case by Cape Girardeau Police detective Joe Thomas. The victim told police she went with Stielow to the bank and withdrew $12,291 she gave to him, most likely on Nov. 12, Thomas wrote.

Thomas observed the work completed by Stielow at the victim’s house in the 1900 block of Kingshighway, which amounted to putting in gutter guards, painting window frames and a door frame and nailing a board in place below one of windows, according to the statement.

Stielow and his two workers did not scrape off any old paint from the windows and painted on the siding around each window, Thomas wrote. About 34 feet of gutter guards were installed, according to the statement.

“When I saw the ‘work’ they did compared to what they charged her, it did seem they grossly overcharged her,” Thomas wrote.

Thomas talked to a professional painter who said the most he would charge for a similar job would be $1,500, Thomas wrote. At their most expensive, gutter guards cost about $135 for a set of 25, according to the statement.

Thomas checked with a two pest-control companies, and neither said they would charge more than $2,000 for a big job, according to the statement.

Thomas ran Stielow’s name through the Missouri Information Analysis Canter and found he had a Ford Ranger, Thomas wrote. An employee of PM Professionals said they saw a Ford Ranger at the woman’s residence, according to the statement.

Thomas and Detective Doug Hays pulled Stielow over Thursday when they saw him driving the Ranger on North Kingshighway, according to the statement.

Stielow admitted he worked on the woman’s house and called his boss “Richard Jones,” Thomas wrote.

The woman pointed out Stielow in a photo lineup as the man who accompanied her to the bank, according to the statement.

Stielow went to the police station willingly about 11 a.m., Thomas wrote. After he was read his Miranda rights, he requested a lawyer, and he was placed under arrest, according to the statement.

Richard Jones never appeared at the station, and the phone number Stielow provided did not connect to a Richard Jones, Thomas wrote.

bkleine@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3644

Pertinent address: 1900 block of Kingshighway, Cape Girardeau, MO