Father, son charged with fraud

WENTWORTH, N.C. – A Stokesdale man and his son face two felony counts of obtaining property by false pretenses in connection with agreements to cut and sell timber.

Jerry Lee Ellis, 48, of 362 Red Oak Drive in Stokesdale, and David Lee Ellis, 23, of 20 Mooney St. in Ridgeway, Va., were recently arrested by Detective Dana Taylor with the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office.

The arrest follows the report of two incidents that occurred in February and January, according to a news release from the sheriff’s office.

In the first incident, Lane Kannegieter, 29, of 291 Quail Ridge Road in Summerfield, told authorities he received a verbal agreement from the father and son to cut timber and split the profit, when in fact they cut 11 loads of timber and kept all proceeds.

In the second incident, Jane Hoss, 65, of 494 Webb Loop in Madison, told authorities she received a verbal agreement that Jerry and David Ellis would cut and split the profit from eight loads of timber, when in fact the men kept all proceeds.

“The father and son duo acted in concert to cheat and defraud the aforementioned victims of timber,” the sheriff’s office stated in a news release.

Jerry and David Ellis faced similar charges in 2008.