JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A Jacksonville tree trimmer who was the subject of an I-TEAM investigation was sentenced to jail time Thursday after pleading guilty to a count of organized fraud, Duval County court records show.
Arthur Kenlee Ayers, 39, received four months in jail followed by 12 months’ probation as part of a plea agreement in which prosecutors dropped grand theft and petit theft charges, according to court documents.
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Ayers was arrested in January on a warrant based on complaints that he offered to cut down trees for three homeowners in 2018 for $500 apiece. The warrant states that Ayers accepted money for each job but never completed the work.
Two of those customers are military veterans, who told the I-TEAM that Ayers started work for them, but never returned to finish the jobs, leaving them to figure out how to get rid of all the debris he previously agreed to haul away.
Ayers, who has 14 arrests in Duval County, was released from prison in October 2015 after serving time for an organized fraud conviction, according to Florida Department of Corrections records.