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Gerson Estanley Rodriguez-Lizama was hired by a family on Onville Road for work on their home, but he had yet to do so when police were called to the home on Oct. 27, Stafford County Sheriff David Decatur said.
"While at first it appeared to be a civil matter, as Deputy Bates dove further into the investigation, he discovered the suspect might be defrauding the pair," Decatur said.
Bates tracked down Rodriguez-Lizama on Nov. 2. Rodriguez-Lizama said he'd run out of money but promised he'd "get it taken care of," Decatur said.
Rodriguez-Lizama gave police a fake identity, the same one he'd given the victims, the sheriff said.
The suspect was provided written notice that he needed to complete the job, or refund the victim’s their money within 15 days. Fifteen days came and went and the victims had not heard from Rodriguez-Lizama, police said.
The victims said they'd met two other people who had the same exact thing happen to them by the same man. With that, Deputy Bates obtained two felony warrants, police said.
On Nov. 24, deputies responded to the Rodriguez-Lizama's home on Battleship Cove to arrest him, but Rodriguez-Lizama refused to leave the home, police said.
After a brief standoff, Rodriguez-Lizama was taken into custody and eventually provided his real information. He was charged with felony obtaining money by false pretenses, fraudulent intent to complete construction, providing a false identity to avoid arrest, unlawful name change, identity theft, and obstruction of justice.
While before the Magistrate, Rodriguez-Lizama would again lie, but that was quickly discovered, and he was additionally charged with perjury. Rodriguez-Lizama was held at Rappahannock Regional Jail without bond.
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