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http://www.khou.com/news/local/Burglars-posing-as-fire-marshals
by Gabe Gutierrez / KHOU 11 News
khou.com
Posted on December 5, 2011 at 6:01 PM
Updated today at 6:21 PM
Related:
Deputies: Fake fire marshal burglarizes Harris County home
HOUSTON – Burglars posing as fire marshals have targeted another elderly
homeowner – but this one ran them off with a hatchet.
Mary Ann Wooten, 84, said she was working on her flower bed Saturday
afternoon in the 800 block of Curtin Avenue when a man claiming to be a
utility worker approached her and her husband, who has dementia.
"He took us behind the garage here and took us to the back (of the yard),"
she said.
The man told her that he needed to install some electrical wires. That was
enough to distract her while three other men sneaked into her home.
"His pen wouldn’t write," she remembered. "So when he disappeared around
the corner, I went in the house and I wasn’t supposed to do that, to get a
pen. When I did, I heard all the commotion in the house."
When she confronted the men, they said they were with the fire marshal’s
office. But where most people would have panicked, this grandmother pulled
out a hatchet.
"I said you all all don’t need to be in here," she said, waving the small
garden hatchet around. "You’ve done a lot of damage. Get yourself out of
here now! I should’ve told them, ‘I hope they burn in hell.’"
The thieves took off with some cash and jewelry.
She’s not the only victim in recent weeks. Last Wednesday, someone posing
as a fire marshal stole from another man in northeast Harris County. On
November 8, another man pulled a similar stunt. And in the past few days,
there have been reports of phony utility workers surprising homeowners in
the Memorial Villages and League City.
"We hear of people impersonating police officers a lot," said Lt. Dean
Hensley with the Harris County Fire Marshal’s Office. "It’s not real
common to hear people saying they’re fire marshal impersonators. We’re not
sure exactly why that’s happening. People are trying something different
now."
Hensley said real fire marshals will always carry valid identification, and
he urged any residents who might be suspicious to call 911. | f*********n 发帖数: 11154 | |
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