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Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Detectives nab phony Water Dept. employee in NE

A pair of eagle-eyed detectives stopped a veteran scam-artist from victimizing an elderly couple in Northeast Philadelphia earlier today, police said.
Detectives James Arentzem and Margarita Moreno-Nix had been sent to Rhawnhurst because of a recent spate of “gypsy crimes” — cons that are committed by nomadic hustlers who pose as public employees, said Major Crimes Sgt. Joseph Cella.

“Transient criminals don’t hang around much,” Cella said. “By the time most of these crimes are reported, we’re a day late and a dollar short.”
Luck was apparently on the detectives’ side when they parked on Rhawn Street near Frontenac about 1 p.m.
The investigators, both of whom specialize in crimes against the elderly, spotted a man clad in a work uniform, clipboard in hand, with an identification card dangling from his neck.
“They saw him knock on an elderly couple’s door and then go inside. They suspected some criminal activity, so they approached,” Cella said.
The detectives got to the front door just as the con man was about to leave.
“The couple said he claimed to be a Water Department employee who had to check their water. He told them he was going to issue a rebate check,” Cella said.
The scam-artist, who was sporting a crude I.D. that consisted of a small photo pasted onto a card with the words “Identification Card,” was promptly arrested.
The trickster is a 65-year-old man who most recently lived in New Jersey and has a record of pulling cons in other parts of the country.
Police declined to release his name because criminal charges, including trespass and impersonating a public official, had not yet been filed.
The elderly couple told detectives they didn’t believe anything had been stolen from their house.
Normally, this type of scam involves a second person who steals from unsuspecting homeowners while the first person distracts them, Cella noted.
“For all we know, the second person saw our detectives and took off,” he said.
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About The PhillyConfidential team

Dana DiFilippo has covered murder, mayhem and miscellany at the Daily News since 2000. She grew up in Delaware County and studied journalism and photography at Penn State University. E-mail tips to difilid@phillynews.com.

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Stephanie Farr has been reporting for the Daily News since 2007, covering everything from gay porn stars who entered the burglary business to moon trees, skinheads, murders and naked bike rides. She covers crime, both in the city and suburbs, and keeps clippings of bizarre Associated Press articles. Her favorite this year was the story about the drunk in Punxsutawney who gave mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to a dead opossum. E-mail tips to farrs@phillynews.com.

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Phillip Lucas joined the Daily News crime team in 2011. He grew up on the mean streets of Seattle and studied journalism and psychology at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Before landing in the City of Brotherly Love, Phillip was a reporter for The News Journal in Wilmington, Del. Email tips to lucasp@phillynews.com.

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Morgan Zalot is the newest crime reporter at the Daily News, starting in 2011 after interning at the paper twice as a Temple University journalism student. In her past stints at the DN, she covered just about everything, from drunken Phillies fans to a barber shop in a high school to a grisly murder-suicide. She’s a born-and-raised Philly girl who grew up in the Northeast. E-mail tips to zalotm@philly.com.

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