An elderly woman who thought she was opening her home to a water company inspector last week instead was burglarized and had a $51,000 cash nest egg stolen from her, police said.
Police are warning residents to make sure they know who they are letting into their homes and to demand identification in order to substantiate who unexpected visitors are.
Police say last Tuesday's "imposter burglar" netted the biggest cash haul that anyone can remember.
Sgt. Peter diSpagna said in the mid-morning of May 19, the 89-year-old woman answered a knock at the door of her Courtland Avenue-East Main Street home and encountered a middle-aged, white male who said he worked for Aquarion Water Co.
The man said he was there to check her leaky pipes. The woman, by coincidence, had been having a problem with some of her household plumbing, diSpagna said. She did not call Aquarion to check the validity of this visit because her phone was broken.
After allowing the man into the house, he told her there was a $50 charge for the inspection, which would be refunded to her later.
The woman went into her living room to get the $50 while the man watched.
Saying that company policy did not allow him to wander through the woman's home alone, the man asked her to accompany him through the kitchen and basement, while he checked the pipes. While they were talking the woman said the man was continually on his cellphone.
After checking the basement, the man told the woman that someone would be by sometime next week to repair her pipes, and he did not take the woman's $50 before leaving. Click here to continue reading
Then the woman discovered that her nest egg of $51,000 had been taken.
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