Deputies: Pine straw bandits arrested, accused of billing Mississippi homeowner thousands of dollars in scam
Published 7:58 am Wednesday, November 24, 2021
Two men have been arrested in connection with what Mississippi deputies describe as a pine straw service scam.
Officials with the Rankin County Sheriff’s Office said they received a from a resident who reported that a group of men came by their house on Tuesday, Nov. 23, and offered to put out pine straw bales for $7 a bale.
The men claimed that the job would take a few bales, but when the work was completed, the men claimed that they put out more than 379 bales of pine straw. The homeowner received a bill for $2,600 for the work.
Rankin County officials say the men were paid by a check from the mother of the homeowner, who later reported the incident to the sheriff’s office.
Deputies arrested two of the men, who were at a nearby bank trying to cash the check.