A monument salesman, who took thousands of dollars from elderly customers and then failed to supply the ordered gravestones, was arrested by the Rhea County Sheriff's Department Tuesday.

On July 24, Betty Stroub of Dayton Mountain purchased a monument for herself and her late husband, Stanley, who died July 2. She gave a check for $1,064.65 to Lavail Bonds of Bonds Monuments in Whitwell, Tenn., and Rossville, Ga. Bonds cashed her check but never delivered the monument.

Mrs. Stroub went to the sheriff's department on Sept. 1 to report that Bonds had still not delivered the monument.
When Sgt. Chris Hall began investigating, he found that Bonds was under suspicion for having stiffed other customers in Bledsoe, Marion and Sequatchie counties in Tennessee and Catoosa County, Ga.

Last week, Catoosa County Investigator Alan Miles contacted Hall and told him he had received a tip that Bonds would be attempting to sell a monument to an elderly lady in Pikeville on Monday afternoon. Hall then contacted the Bledsoe County Sheriff's Department and had Bonds taken into custody when he showed up for the appointment.

Hall charged Bonds, 50, of Ringgold, Ga., with theft of property valued at between $1,000 and $10,000 and also arrested him on a Catoosa County warrant for theft by deception.

Bonds should be extradited back to Georgia this week where the original charges against him were filed, according to Hall.

Although Bonds has a legitimate monument business, Hall said Bonds is a heavy gambler and in recent months has taken dozens of orders around the tri-state area, only fulfilling a small percentage of them.

"He promised a lot more than he is delivering," Hall said.