Grand jury charges man with scamming elderly

A Russellville man accused of scamming an elderly lady in December of 2009 was indicted by a recent grand jury, courthouse officials said.
Robert Tollison, 65, 1104 Mullins Ave., Russellville, was indicted for second-degree theft of property, Franklin County District Attorney Joey Rushing said.
According to Franklin County Sheriff Shannon Oliver, investigators at the sheriff’s office received information during the third week of October 2012 that an 83-year old Franklin County woman was out approximately $1,000 in a deal involving Tollison that allegedly turned out to be a scam.
Oliver said Tollison does transmission work and the elderly woman told investigators that she was approached by Tollison on Dec. 23, 2009, and asked to go in with him on a deal to buy salvaged transmissions that he would then fix up and sell for a higher price.
Oliver said the woman gave Tollison approximately $1,000 to buy the salvaged transmissions and Tollison allegedly told her he would split the profits with her once the transmission were fixed and sold.
“The lady has apparently been asking about these transmissions for a couple of years now and every time she asked, he would give her the run around,” Oliver said.
“He just kept putting her off and telling her she’d get her money soon.”
Oliver said the woman finally became suspicious when a man she knew recently came to her and said Tollison offered him the same exact deal.
“The man told her that Tollison said if he’d go in with him and split the cost of a salvaged transmission, he’d fix it up and sell it and they’d split the profits,” Oliver said.
“She knew then that she had been scammed and reported it to us. It’s just sad when someone tries to take advantage of the elderly.”
Rushing said Tollison’s case would e set for arraignment on May 2 and would be placed on the June criminal trial docket.