Chesapeake widow gets a scam, not new driveway

CHESAPEAKE

The stranger in the banged-up tan pickup smiled politely and offered to pour her a fresh driveway. Frances Ousaklidis took in his eyes and good looks, the young woman in the passenger seat and the bits of rock and sand in the truck bed.

He'd just finished a job a few blocks away, he told her Friday, and had all this material left over. As long as she didn't tell anybody, he'd charge just $1,500.

Ousaklidis had considered repaving the worn driveway in front of her Fontana Court home before. She's lived there since she was 25. Now she is 70, widowed and living on Social Security. The price sounded like a bargain.

A few hours later, with a driveway filled with a layer of the stuff from the truck and a promise that concrete would rise to the top for a smooth surface, Ousaklidis said, she withdrew $100 bills from a credit account at her bank and paid the man.

She learned the truth that evening, long after he had disappeared: The names and numbers on the receipts were fake, and the rock and sand in her driveway was not going to turn to pavement.

Chesapeake Sheriff's Lt. Col. Jim O'Sullivan said the scam is not uncommon. "They just prey on our elderly citizens, get them to pay these cash deals and then they're gone."

An Elderly and Indigent Assistance Program begun in Chesapeake in 1979 will provide Ousaklidis with $200 "to assist her in getting back on her feet," he said.

Ousaklidis said she has a lot of bills and takes a lot of medicine; she's suffered two strokes, is unsteady on her feet and relies on her son to prepare evening meals. She calls herself a fool for trusting the man - he was probably in his early 20s, she said, and he seemed so nice that she didn't think twice when he asked for cash instead of a check.

"You live and learn," she said. "It took me 70 years to learn this."

Kristin Davis, (757) 222-5208, kristin.davis@pilotonline.com