John James Dunn, 37, was found guilty as charged on two counts of Exploitation of an Elderly Person or a Disabled Adult, a third degree felony, following a two day trial in Lee County. Dunn faces up to 10 years in prison.
In 2016 the defendant went to the home of a then 80 year old Fort Myers woman to sell her air conditioning services on behalf of the company he worked for. At the time, the victim agreed to pay $3,000 to have her air conditioner refurbished and pay for it through financing. The owner of the company went to the victim’s home and realized that she did not fully understand the contract and did not want to take her money so he cancelled the contract and did not charge her for any services. The owner told Dunn he cancelled the contract to inform him that he would not receive any commission money from it.
Dunn faked a contract using letterhead from an air conditioning company he worked for previously. He went to the woman’s house and convinced her to go to the bank and withdraw $2,000 as payment on the fake contract.
About a month later a well-being check was being done at the woman’s home. The person checking on her met the defendant inside her home. He claimed he worked for an air conditioning company that he was no longer employed at but matched the fake contract. Dunn also introduced himself using the name of his deceased father. He was aggressively demanding that the victim pay the alleged outstanding balance of $1,000 on the invoice. He left without getting the money.
The suspicious activity was reported to law enforcement and the scam came to light following an investigation by the Lee County Sheriff’s Office. The case was then turned over to the State Attorney’s Office.
His sentencing is scheduled for July 24th. Assistant State Attorneys Jennifer Royal and Tino Cimato of our Economic Crimes Unit prosecuted the case.
Samantha Syoen
Communications Director
State Attorney’s Office
239-533-1125
ssyoen@sao20.org