SENIORS HIT
BY CON TEAMS
By Charles Rogers

Local police say they are tracking groups of con teams who have been plaguing the area and robbing mostly senior citizens by talking their way into homes and stealing jewelry and cash from them. Detectives say the con teams have hit local seniors "at least six times" since the beginning of the year.

Having been robbed three weeks ago by what police called a trio of thieves who not-too-neatly talked their way into their home, one married senior citizen couple said they’re frustrated by police efforts to make an arrest.

At the same time, the police are frustrated by the victims themselves, saying they’re either too afraid, too intimidated or just too cynical to help identify and track the thieves.

"We show them pictures to try to identify and they say they don’t want to try to pick out possible suspects, probably for fear of retribution," said one detective.

The latest case involves an 83-year-old resident who called the Canarsie Courier because she wanted "to warn all senior citizens out there to be extremely careful who they let in their house."

The victim said she and her husband were visited one evening by a woman in her forties and her supposed-daughter, about 17.

The senior, who told her story only on the promise that she remain anonymous, said she had just put out her garbage and was returning to her house when the visitor came to her door.

"They came to the back screen door and greeted me and my husband like we were old friends," the victim said, "although they didn’t look familiar at all."

"I know you," the visitor said. "Me and my daughter used to live down the street." The victim said she didn’t recall the woman and told her so.

"No matter," the woman answered. "I wonder if you could give my daughter a drink of water. She’s been sick. We’ll just come in for a minute."

Reluctantly, the victim let the woman into her kitchen and, while they engaged in "chit-chat," she said, the woman’s daughter asked to use the bathroom.

The victim hesitated, but finally agreed and the daughter disappeared. The victim’s husband, noticing that the daughter seemed to take a long time, went into the bathroom area to see the daughter coming out of his bedroom.

"She said she ‘took a wrong turn’ when she came out of the bathroom," the husband said, "so I went into the bedroom and saw that one of my bureau drawers was open. It was then I called to my wife to stop them and they ran out the door and down the street."

The victims said they checked and saw that the thieves had taken jewelry and a large amount of cash — easily a few thousand, police said. They called police and detectives gave them a binder of photos to look at, one of which the woman identified, but she refused to look at more. When pressed by detectives to continue looking at mug shots, the elderly couple refused, saying they couldn’t take the time and that it was too frustrating.

"We understand the frustration these elderly people have," said Lieutenant Dennis McCreight, who heads the 69th Precinct Detective Squad, "but we’re frustrated too. We need the help of the victims in cases like these so we can track down the con teams. With the help of the victims, we’ll be able to get them."

McCreight said one of the problems, especially with seniors, is that they tend to keep to a set routine.

"In the case of these latest victims, it was taking out the garbage that did the trick. They took out the garbage at a set time every Tuesday or Wednesday night, so the con team easily followed them to their back door and talked their way into the house."

The detective said it’s obvious what preventive measures should be taken: Change your routine; don’t let strangers into your house unless you are absolutely sure who they are; don’t let utility people — and that includes plumbers or other maintenance people — into your house unless you know they are coming and unless you see positive identification. If they do come to your door unannounced and want to come in, call up their home office to see if they’re authorized.

"If you are conned, don’t let em-barrassment be a factor," McCreight concluded, "We can understand it. It happens. The main thing after it happens is to act quickly. Call the police and try to identify every photo you can. Senior citizens are usually very sharp. They should take the time to help us help them."