Two Iowa men jailed in Lincoln, Nebraska, are charged with home-repair scams. Lincoln police officer Catherine Finnell says they’re accused of fast-talking elderly residents into paying for roof and other repairs, and often not doing any work at all. Eugene Harding is from Cedar Rapids and Dustin Miller gave them an Omaha address but police say he came from Iowa, too. The two had been operating around Nebraska’s capital city for some time. They were arrested in Lincoln December 16 and police had been working on the case since mid-September. Finnell says the two may have been operating in the area even earlier, but some embarrassed victims may have been reluctant to admit they’d been scammed. Each is charged with a couple counts of felony theft by deception, but both are also wanted in warrants from Iowa. Eugene Harding is wanted in Dubuque, where officials say he was out on bond from a scam operation involving elderly residents there, and the officer can’t name the city but says there’s a domestic charge against Dustin Miller in an Iowa town. The two will be guests of the city of Lincoln for Christmas, awaiting a preliminary court appearance a couple weeks from now.
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