Syracuse Police have named the man people in the city have come to know as the "Gutter Guy," and revealed he's being held at the Onondaga County Justice Center for violating parole in an unrelated case. Police say Vincent Brush is accused of knocking on doors in the Eastwood and Salt Springs neighborhoods, claiming he'll clean people's gutters before taking money up front and never doing any work.
"He's the one that is reported for this kind of gutter type service that usually appears to be typically a full-out scam," Syracuse Police Public Information Officer Lt. Matthew Malinowski said.
CNY Central's investigation into this alleged scam started after social media posts on an Eastwood neighborhood group page started popping up. Some victims posted photos and videos from their security cameras. One victim of the scam includes one mom who said he startled her when he showed up. Another actually gave him the money, but no service was performed in return. Police confirm she filed a report with them.
"That case," said Lt. Malinowski, "there was not an arrest made, seemed to be still more of a civil matter. There was an arrest made recently on a trespassing report that we've informed you of now. But, seemed to be still causing havoc on those kind of, Eastside neighborhoods."
A quick search by police of Brush's name turned up more than 100 reports where he's been arrested or listed as a suspect. They do clarify that doesn't mean Brush was arrested that many times, and several reports may be from the same incident.
District Attorney Bill Fitzpatrick’s office is handling the trespassing case plus another involving Brush, "Parolee or not, he's entitled to make a living. Does it make me uncomfortable that a person with that record would knock on someone's door and solicit a gutter cleaning and would I hire him? Absolutely not," DA Fitzpatrick said. He adds, Brush won't be in the Justice Center long, as he's entitled to a parole hearing soon.
CNY Central asked, what might get through to this alleged scammer? "Clearly, just police involvement and making an arrest is not solving the problem, cause he continues to act. So really, we're going to have to look at, you know, why is he doing this? Is it a mental health issue, is it an economic issue, or is it just purely that he's a destructive personality that, you know needs to be sent away and secured from the public?" Lt. Malinowski said.
"At his age, hypothetically, con-men don't change. They just don't. It's something inherent in their DNA, I wish I could explain it. But I'm not going to you know, send him to some counseling session and say here's why you shouldn't steal from people," DA Fitzpatrick added.
As of right now, Brush in the Justice Center downtown for violating parole and he's awaiting prosecution on an arrest for allegedly trespassing last week.