A New Hampshire contractor took the money upfront for home improvement jobs he worked in Massachusetts. But come time to work, police said, he was nowhere to be found.
Robert Merill, 32, was arrested in Marblehead on Tuesday, after eluding the custody of police in six Massachusetts towns over the course of more than a year, police said.
Merill, of Seabrook, New Hampshire, is accused of stealing from homeowners in Newburyport, West Newbury, Merrimac, Amesbury, Haverhill and North Reading. The homeowners expected completed projects on their properties but never received it, according to officials in Newburyport and Marblehead, whose two police departments arrested Merill on Tuesday.
“This was a lengthy investigation into alleged crimes that cost homeowners tens of thousands of dollars, and this arrest is the direct result of the collaborative efforts of multiple law enforcement agencies,” Mark Murray, the city marshal of Newburyport, said in a statement.
The Newburyport Police Department charged Merill with two counts of larceny over $1,200. He was held on $50,000 bail during an appearance Wednesday in Newburyport District Court.
Since 2021, police had sought Merill on six active arrest warrants. Working with the police departments in Marblehead, North Reading and at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Bedford, Newburyport investigators said they identified a possible job Merill was working in Marblehead. He was located by Marblehead police and taken into custody Tuesday.
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