Man accused of scamming elderly across West Virginia arrested in Kentucky

CHARLESTON W.Va. — A Huntington man accused of crimes in multiple states, including several in West Virginia, has been arrested in Kentucky, according to the Charleston Police Department.

William Caudill, 47, was taken into custody in Richmond, Kentucky on Wednesday evening. Caudill is accused of scamming the elderly.

“We called him a one-man crime spree while this was going on,” Charleston Police Chief Steve Cooper said. “He targeted the elderly from Bluefield, Virginia to Huntington and there were several cases in Charleston. He was just terrorizing the elderly population.”

Cooper described one incident as Caudill posing as a sanitation worker for the city of Charleston and asking an elderly woman if he could check her plumbing. According to Cooper, that’s when she let him into the house and he searched around for her wallet, took her credit card and used it all over the Kanawha Valley.

Caudill was also accused of tying up an elderly Virginia woman and locking her in a closet after she caught him rummaging through her purse, according to Cooper.

“He was identified in numerous other cases of scamming his way into their homes,” Cooper said. “It was always an elderly female. He would target them specifically, obviously because they are alone and more vulnerable. He’s got a history of it dating back 10 years. We arrested him and he went to prison years ago for it.”

According to Cooper, he was arrested in Richmond, Kentucky when an officer on-duty there, noticed him in his improperly registered Jeep Cherokee and acting suspiciously.

“In this case and what happens in a lot of other cases, when you lead that type of lifestyle, you’re going to be in places and acting in ways you shouldn’t be,” Cooper said. “It draws the attention of officers on patrol, which it did here. The officer checked into it and was able to identify him and take him into custody.”

“We had a manhunt going on for him. He’s in custody and going to stay that way. We are going to get him and bring him here. There are other cases in other counties and everybody will get a shot at him. Someone is going to extradite him back to West Virginia and he is going to have to answer to the crimes he was committing against the elderly.”

Caudill was also wanted for failure to register as a sex offender and a probation violation.





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