A 42-year-old Jacksonville Beach man turned himself in after being sought Wednesday in connection with exploiting two Ponte Vedra Beach families earlier this year.
Bryan Ruby, 42, of Umatilla, Florida turned himself in to the Lake County Sherriff's Office Thursday afternoon.
St. Johns County Sherriff's Office says he will be held on two counts of exploitation of the elderly in St. Johns County as well as a local charge in Lake County.
Detectives contributed the quick arrest to the publicity of the investigation. Police say anonymous information led them to the Lake County area where Ruby has relatives residing.
Ruby is charged with scamming over $300 from a 67-year-old Ponte Vedra Beach woman in July. Police said he'd been performing landscaping work at the victim's Lake Julia Dr. South residence in April, and advised that he could replace a back seat of her golf cart.
The victim paid Ruby $360 and never received the seat. Police say the victim discovered that he'd been fired from the landscaping company and that he allegedly had been scamming numerous other elderly people in the Northeast Florida area.
In the second case, police say an elderly couple from the 3100 block of Timberlake Point, also in Ponte Vedra Beach, reportedly told Ruby they needed a piece of pool equipment that was just under $1,000.
According to police, the couple paid him and never received the product. The suspect refused to give the money back.
Police say Ruby also only paid back $400 of a $3,000 loan he received from the victims following a story about an alleged sick wife who needed an insulin pump.
St. Johns County detective Hank Miller has identified other victims with similar stories of the suspect scamming them out of various amounts of money and is continuing the investigation.
Ruby was served the two warrants in Lake County. The bonds total $10,000.
