Crime Alert: The “Gypsy” clan is active again in the South Patrol Districts.

October 14, 2011

Greetings,

The “Gypsy” clan is active again in the South Patrol Districts. They hit older established neighborhoods (“The Hill” being a favorite) usually in the afternoon & early evening hours. They target elderly residents, in their late 80s or 90s (men and women). They work in pairs and use portable radios to communicate with one another.

They sometimes wear hard hats and tool belts or tool vests and they usually drive a variety of rental vehicles with out of state plates. Their M.O. is one of them knocks on the door of a residence (single family homes) and when the victim answers, he identifies himself as a utility worker (Water Division, Electric Company, Gas company, etc). He either asks to come into the residence to check on something or draws the victim out of the residence to look at something (trees that need to be cut down, wires hanging down).

 While the first subject is distracting the elderly victim, the second subject enters the residence undetected and steals small, but valuable items - usually cash and jewelry. The last few times they’ve hit, they have knocked on the back door of the residence.

In one incident, one of the subjects told the elderly man they needed to go into the basement to check on water pipes and when they did, the second subject entered the house.  In another incident, the subject told the elderly female they needed to check lights in the living room and front porch while the second subject entered the rear kitchen door, stealing $2000. In 2 other incidents, one subject had the elderly male victims come out into the backyard to look at trees that needed to be cut down for the electric company, while the other subject entered the front of the residence.

They communicate with one another during the distractions, so the victim doesn’t interrupt the second subject committing the burglary. They have been described as Hispanic males, between 35-50 years old, speaking with accents (they actually probably are of Romanian descent). It has not been determined how the suspects are aware elderly people live in the residences alone. They do not go door to door but go to specific, predetermined homes.

Lastly please beware of your surroundings during your travels, with the up coming shopping and Holiday Season pay close attention as to who or what is approaching you from the front and from behind, criminals look for victims who are unaware of their environment (day dreaming) and remember if you see anything suspicious do not hesitate to call 911.

Sincerely,

Captain 

Ronnie Robinson                                                                                                                              

Commander, Second  District