Ormond Beach, FL - The Volusia County Sheriff has some choice words for someone recently arrested for theft.
In true Mike Chitwood fashion, the word he chose to describe him was "scumbag."
Sheriff Chitwood took to his personal Facebook on Wednesday to discuss 47-year-old Russel Bannister, who was arrested earlier this month for stealing from a resident at an assisted living facility.
In that incident, Bannister was caught after a family member was alerted by an Amazon Alexa device.
But, the post was made to do more than just shame Bannister, it was also made in hopes to find other victims he might have preyed on.
"This Prolific Scumbag who preys on the elderly is in custody now, but who knows how many more victims are out there that we don't know about," said Chitwood on Facebook.
As stated before, this is not Bannister's first run-in with local law enforcement regarding crimes against the elderly. Bannister was arrested back in August of last year after the Volusia Sheriff's Office charged him with exploiting the elderly, organized scheme to defraud and grand theft.
That's after Bannister posed as a "handyman" and scammed victims between the ages of 70 and 85 for home repairs in 2016.
In January of 2017, Bannister was also arrested while using an alias for a scam in Greenville, South Carolina. Authorities there booked him on several charges of exploiting a vulnerable adult, burglary and assault/battery on a law enforcement officer.
In that incident, he was accused of posing as a pastor collecting funds for tornado victims.
"Whether he's posing as a handyman or a pastor to scam people in their 70s and 80s, or weaseling his way into assisted living facilities to steal from residents, it seems like Russell Bannister just can't stop exploiting vulnerable people," Chitwood said.
At the end of his post, Sheriff Chitwood urged anyone affected by Bannister to call the Volusia Sheriff's Office at 386-248-1777.
