Neighborhood Crime Alert!

Reports are coming in about individuals who approach neighbors in their yard or at grocery stores to solicit a few dollars under the guise of family emergency or as a stranded tourist.

On Thursday, (two days ago, one Skyland neighbor gave $16 to a woman who claimed to live in the neighborhood. She said her husband was out of town and she needed to buy a nebulizer for her son. Once she received the money, she jumped in a van and took off. (older green van, Chevy, woman was Hispanic, American accent, no description of driver.)

Last year several elder neighbors were kidnapped in their cars and the crooks attempted by threat and force to go to their banks to withdraw money.

Reports about these con artists show that these people are coming in all shapes and sizes. Men, women, all ages, all colors, often with fake accents.. Always the story is similar;, they have a hardship and claim that they live in the area.

DO NOT LET ANY STRANGER INTO YOU HOME OR YOUR CAR.

Even if they say they live in the neighborhood, keep your doors locked, speak to these people through the glass of your window or door. Direct them to get help at the fire station on Steele / MLK or offer to call the police for them if their need is great.
(I put one of them to work, weeding in my yard last year before I would give her money. She kept wanting to get into my home – changing her story and trying all sorts of excuses, even that she had to use the bathroom for ‘feminine reasons’. I refused and directed her to the Fire Station. No other person came to my door all summer after that! I suspect many of these con-artists work in a gang – like the Irish travelers with their roofing and driveway scams.)