Ascension prosecutors: Morris went off grid after initial release from jail, remains a risk for flight, further fraud – The Advocate

Prosecutors in Ascension Parish are seeking to hold jailed Baton Rouge contractor Matthew Morris without bail, alleging he used fraudulent methods to obtain a line of credit while in jail and then "went off the grid" for four dayslast month after he posted $635,000 bail in the parish.

Prosecutors said in a motion to revoke his bail that Morris' "propensity for fraudulent conduct remains prevalent" and he is a "flight risk" who cannot be trusted to turn himself in when ordered to do so.

Morris, 39, owner of Complete Construction Contractors, has been booked on dozens of counts of contractor and insurance fraud and other counts and was expected to be in court in Livingston Parish Monday morning.

Starting in early February, six law enforcement agencies in the Baton Rouge area have accused Morris of starting home and business restoration work and then seeking exorbitant cost increases that arent justified by the completed work, according to affidavits of probable cause. Ascension deputies also allege Morris used sophisticated damage estimating software to inflate costs.

He was first arrested in Ascension Parish Feb. 8. After Morris was release Feb. 10, he was rearrested Feb. 21 at his home and booked into East Baton Rouge Parish before he was taken to Livingston Parish Detention Center where he is being held in lieu of $780,000 bail along with holds from other jurisdictions.

Ascension Parish sheriff's deputies are planning to bring him to their parish Monday afternoon to book him on counts involving four more victims, Chief Deputy Bobby Webre said.

Prosecutors with the 23rd Judicial District in Ascension allege in their motion filed in February that Morris used payments purportedly owed to his company to secure lines of credit.

But prosecutors allege that the payments were actually "false" and based on contracts that had been terminated over allegations of Morris' fraudulent business practices.

Prosecutors said in the motion that Morris, while sitting in Ascension Parish Prison last month, directed family members and his comptroller, Kerry Jones, to secure the lines of credit on his behalf.

Jones, the comptroller, told sheriff's deputies that Morris showed up at Complete Construction's office on Perkins Road in Baton Rouge after he posted bail in Ascension on Feb. 10 with $200,000 cash and a handgun, prosecutors said.

"Morris attempted to assure his employees that everything was going to be okay," prosecutors wrote in their motion.

After Livingston Parish sheriff's deputies obtained warrants against Morris, they spoke with him and his attorney and had planned to have him turn himself in Feb. 17 at the Sheriff's Office.

"Instead of turning himself in, Mr. Morris went off the grid," prosecutors said in the motion.

Sheriff's deputies had to ask Crimestoppers to put out a notice on Morris and formed a special task force to find him.

Authorities caught up with Morris at 7 a.m. Feb. 21 at his home in Mallard Lakes subdivision in Baton Rouge. He was about to leave the house with his wife when they arrived, prosecutors said.

Morris is set to appear in 23rd Judicial District Court at 9 a.m. March 20 on the prosecutors' motion. In addition to setting the hearing date, Judge Jessie LeBlanc also ordered the law enforcement agencies to hold Morris until then.

Follow David J. Mitchell on Twitter, @NewsieDave.

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Ascension prosecutors: Morris went off grid after initial release from jail, remains a risk for flight, further fraud - The Advocate