Elderly con artists allegedly scammed B&Bs

CONCORD, Mass., Jan. 12 (UPI) -- A "cute charming older couple" have been charged with fleecing expensive inns in Massachusetts allegedly by giving them rubber checks after lengthy stays.

Benjamin Wolff, 79, and his wife, Jane, 72, surrendered last week after WFXT-TV, Boston, did a story on them complete with pictures, The Boston Globe reported.

The Wolffs allegedly cheated the Hawthorne Inn in Concord of $3,600 and the Market Street Inn in Newburyport of $1,200. They were charged last week with fleecing a Rockport B&B of $1,200 and last year were ordered to pay more than $1,000 to an extended stay hotel in Waltham.

Marilyn Mudry, who runs the Hawthorne Inn with her husband, called them the "perfect inn guests," saying they kept their room clean, complimented their hosts on the food and got along well with other guests.

"Just a cute, charming older couple -- that's what we thought, anyway,'' she said.

The Wolffs were arraigned Friday in Newburyport and were scheduled for a second arraignment Tuesday in Concord.

The couple's exact address was uncertain. They listed post office boxes in Wayland, west of Boston, but had some documents with an address in Hingham, southeast of Boston. Mrs. Wolff had a driver's license with a Concord address, but the people living there said they did not know her, the Globe reported.