Police and town officials issued warnings and citations, but perhaps not fast enough to stop at least two businesses and a resident from getting scammed out of about $5,500 by an itinerant paving crew, Police Chief William Flagg said Tuesday.

William Stanley, 24, of Lowell, Mass., is due in Lincoln District Court on Aug. 4 to answer three Class E misdemeanor criminal charges. He was charged Thursday with violating the Door to Door Home Repair Sellers Act, the Consumer Soliciting Sales Act and the Transient Sales Act, Flagg said.

Police found Stanley, the owner of Bituminous Paving Co. of Lowell, at a Lee Road residence on Thursday arguing with a business owner there over Stanley's alleged attempt to raise the price to $4,500 for some pothole filling in a parking lot, Flagg said. The homeowner argued successfully to lower the price to $1,000, Flagg said. Another business already had paid $4,500 for paving.

Though legally registered as a Massachusetts business, Bituminous Paving is the same "gypsy paving crew" that Town Manager Lisa Goodwin and Lincoln and Bangor police warned residents of on Friday, according to Flagg. Bituminous Paving, Goodwin said, falsely claimed to be working for the town of Lincoln paving a nearby street and had leftover asphalt. Sunrise Materials is the town's sole paving contractor, she said.