Rogue Traders presenter wanted by police over benefit fraud charges According to the BBC website, Portuguese-born Penteado has been an integral part of Rogue Traders and Watchdog since 2001. Photograph: Clara Molden/PA One of the stars of the BBC consumer series Rogue Traders is being sought by police over allegations of benefit and council tax fraud. Dan Penteado, who chases down bogus workmen with the presenter Matt Allwright in the Rogue Traders part of consumer show Watchdog, has been charged with fraud. He is accused of claiming more than £24,000 of government payouts he was not entitled to while he worked for the BBC. Penteado, 40, from Bournemouth, Dorset, has not responded to letters sent to him by Bournemouth borough council and was sent a court summons to appear before Bournemouth magistrates court on Wednesday. When he failed to turn up at court a warrant was issued for his arrest. Dorset police confirmed they were making enquiries to trace Penteado. Johanne McNamara, prosecuting for Bournemouth borough council, told magistrates that Penteado, a private investigator, had stated he was a student to claim the benefits from 2008 to 2012. "Mr Penteado was claiming housing benefit and council tax benefit on the basis that he was a full-time student with a family; he received benefit on that basis," she said. Over a period of time his position has changed. He was actually employed on BBC's Rogue Traders programme as a motorbike rider. There are a number of offences. Some relate to failing to disclose a bank account which his wages were paid into, others relate to failing to notify a change in his circumstances when he was hired by the BBC. She told the court that his BBC wages varied from year to year. McNamara said that in 2008 he was paid more than £16,000 by the BBC and between July 2009 to March 2012 he received more than £15,000. Penteado then received a further £18,000 for work done between July 2010 and January 2011 and more than £6,000 for work done between May and December 2011. McNamara told the court Penteado had been overpaid £24,077.60 in housing and council tax benefit that he would not have been entitled to if he had declared his BBC work. Bournemouth borough council had tried on three occasions to invite Penteado in to speak to him about his case before it went to court. He faces 10 counts of benefit fraud. A spokesman for Dorset police said: "We can confirm that an arrest warrant has been issued for Mr Penteado over allegations of benefit fraud. It will go to our warrants' department as a normal investigation so we can try and serve it as soon as possible. We will obviously look to try and find out where he is. According to the BBC website, Portuguese-born Penteado started working with Allwright in 2001 and has been an integral part of Rogue Traders and Watchdog since then. In the last series of Rogue Traders, he and Allwright confronted eight business owners they felt were ripping off the public. When not working on Rogue Traders, Penteado works as a private investigator in the UK and abroad. A BBC spokesman said: "There has been contact between us and Dan Penteado but because this is a private matter and a court case we are not commenting."