Decatur mechanic charged with 'financial exploitation' of elderly customer



Billy Hood

An Athens man who owns a Decatur automotive repair shop has been arrested for charging a 75-year-old woman more than $10,000 for bogus repairs and duplicate billings, records show.

However, the mechanic — Billy Wayne Hood, 52, of 21404 Looney Road, owner of Billy’s Liberty 2000 garage in Decatur — told The News Courier Tuesday the customer authorized the work, he performed it, and she told him he did a good job, though he did admit he accidentally duplicated a charge.

Hood was charged Nov. 4 with first-degree financial exploitation of an elderly person. He is accused of charging for work never performed and duplicating charges for work on Bernice Bagwell’s 1953 Plymouth. He was released from the Morgan County Jail after posting a $5,000 property bond, records show.

Decatur Police Sgt. John Harris investigated the case and filed a detailed affidavit showing probable cause why an arrest warrant should be granted. According to that document, a master mechanic at a Madison shop who was asked to look at Bagwell’s car after her brother became suspicious about the repairs said it was the “worst case of fraud” he had seen in his 35 years in business.

In addition, some of Hood’s former employees told Harris that Hood had engaged in “fraudulent business practices for years but intimidated people into not filing reports,” according to Harris’ affidavit. The document did not detail how Hood allegedly intimidated unhappy customers into not filing reports.

The contract

Harris offered the following probable cause in order to obtain the arrest warrant:

On Oct. 7, Bagwell and her brother, Jerry Jacobs, came to Decatur Police Department to file a theft report. They met with Officer Danny Pepper and explained that in August, Bagwell had taken her car to Hood’s shop to have some work done. Bagwell said she told Hood she wanted to get the car in “show car” condition, according to Harris’ detailed affidavit.

Over the course of a month — between Aug. 29 and Oct. 1 — Hood kept the vehicle at his shop and billed Bagwell more than $10,000 for repairs. Bagwell paid Hood in three separate checks over the month. However, when she picked up her car on Oct. 1, the vehicle did not seem any different than when she dropped it off.

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Decatur mechanic charged with 'financial exploitation' of elderly customer