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Two burglaries — one in Newbold and another in Pennsport — resulted after residents allowed who they thought were PECO workers inside their homes. Instead, they were thieves who stole cash and jewelry without the victim’s knowledge.
“It’s odd,” Lt. Ray Evers of the Police Public Affairs Unit said Tuesday of this type of burglary that tends to occur in the spring and targets the elderly. “Within days apart, literally in two different neighborhoods, a person or persons have used the same type of diversion to get into someone’s house. Just from the verbiage, I believe it may be the same people or group of people doing this.”
At 1 p.m. April 5, an unknown man wearing a dark blue uniform knocked on a 59-year-old’s door on the 1800 block of South 15th Street and identified himself as a PECO employee, who needed to check her home for faulty outlets, Detective Danielle Tolliver of South Detective Division said. She invited the man inside to inspect the house. He left a few minutes later.
Two days later at 1 p.m., another impersonator knocked on her door and indicated he was there to fix the defective sockets his co-worker had discovered, Tolliver said. The man went to a second-floor bedroom and left within 15 minutes. At 11 p.m., the 59-year-old realized her jewelry, valued at $2,000, and checkbooks were gone.
The initial faux employee was described as black, age 30 to 40, 5-foot-5, thin, having short hair and wearing a dark blue uniform and carrying a maroon folder or book with PECO on it.
The thief was described as black, age 30 to 40, 6 foot to 6-foot-2, thin, 170 pounds, wearing a dark blue uniform, baseball cap and carrying a bag.
An hour after the initial man knocked on the Newbold woman’s home, a man and a woman went to a 79-year-old man’s home on the 300 block of Ritner Street, identified themselves as City workers and asked to check his electric meter, Tolliver said.
The man escorted the pair to the kitchen where they inspected his kitchen outlets. While the woman continued the inspection, the man went upstairs. After a few minutes had passed, he returned and the duo vacated the home.
A few hours after their departure, the man headed upstairs to find his dresser drawers open in his bedroom and a change bottle sliced open with money missing, Tolliver said. A total of $1,000 was taken.
The male was described as black with a dark complexion, age 50, 5-foot-7, 175 pounds and wearing black pants and a black hoodie while the female was described as white, age 50, 5-foot-2, 120 pounds and wearing dark-colored pants and a blue hoodie.
The Philadelphia Police Department urges residents to check identification for those claiming to be from a city agency or utility company, such as PECO, Philadelphia Gas Works, Philadelphia Water Department, Verizon or Comcast.
“If you have any reservations of who they are or what they’re about, call the utility company,” Evers said.
While the crimes, or what the department calls “diversion burglaries,” are usually non-violent, he urges residents to not hesitate calling 911 if needed.
“Usually there isn’t [violence],” Evers said. “When you have a stranger in your house, we don’t want it to go far. If they don’t have good identification, if you don’t see a truck, if you feel in anyway they’re not who they say they are, just call 911 and we’ll come check.”
To report information, call South Detectives’ tip line at 215-685-1635 or visit www.phillypolice.com/forms.
Customer service telephone numbers
Comcast: 800-266-2278
PECO: 800-494-4000
Philadelphia Gas Works: 215-235-1000
Philadelphia Water Department: 215-685-6300
Verizon: 800-837-4966
Contact Managing Editor Amanda L. Snyder at asnyder@southphillyreview.com or ext. 117.
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