Today, defendants Jackie Wilson, Deontravis Bonner, and Trayvon Lockhart appeared in court for a preliminary hearing on charges of theft and elder finical exploitation. The men traveled from Georgia to Mobile County and went door to door in Mobile soliciting laying pine straw. A Mobile County Sheriff’s Office detective testified concerning the men’s activities in scamming three elderly Mobile County residents. The testimony alleged that not only did the trio attempt to scam their victims by claiming inflated amounts of pine straw used on the yards but that when the victims questioned the bill, the men used intimidation to get the payment. According to the testimony, sheriff’s deputies, who were staking out the men’s activities, could hear then yelling at one victim from over 50 yards away. The investigator also noted that there might more than 50 other victims but that people were reluctant to come forward to prosecute because of the intimidation they had experienced and the fact that the defendants know where they live. After testimony was heard, the cases were bound over to the Mobile County Grand Jury.