BATON ROUGE- Deputies arrested a man accused of operating a scam where he conned victims out of money to pay for a made-up Pop-A-Lock service call.

Gerald Rester is charged with theft, vagrancy, and since he ran from a deputy, also resisting an officer.

According to a report filed by one victim, Rester said he locked his keys in his car and needed $20 to have his car unlocked by the lock service. The victim said Rester approached her in the parking lot of a restaurant on Coursey Blvd. The victim reported the incident to a deputy working a detail there.

The deputy wrote in his report, when he tried to talk to Rester he took of running. The deputy was able to stop Rester a few blocks away.

According to deputies, there have been numerous reports of Rester using the same story across the city.

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