Brian Scott Seefeldt, 47, allegedly responded to a Craigslist ad placed by the 68-year-old victim who sought help with home repairs.
According to the district attorney's office, Seefeldt, a parolee who has been to state prison twice, responded to the ad and completed some work at the victim's home.
Seefeldt allegedly became romantically involved with the woman, whom he told he was a licensed and bonded contractor when he told her that her home's roof needed extensive repairs, according to the district attorney's office.
The victim allegedly paid Seefeldt $6,264 for the roof repairs at the start of the project, but he disappeared several weeks into the project, leaving $2,000 worth of work to be completed and the project's workers unpaid.
Seefeldt was arrested by Daly City police on July 1 on suspicion of embezzlement and fraud against an elderly adult. He had been held on $60,000 bail, which was increased Thursday to $500,000 at the request of prosecutors.
Seefeldt is set to return to court for a pretrial conference,on Feb. 3, 2012, with the trial set for March.