Eleanor Sutherland’s jewelry was special to her.
She kept these valuable pieces tucked away in a bedroom drawer. Sutherland is now in her 80s, and says some of the pieces belonged to her mother and grandmother. She also cherished a gold Tiffany pin given to her when her son was born.
Now all on her jewelry and heirlooms are gone, stolen by burglars. Her jewelry was valued at more than $4,000.
“Somehow or other, someone rifled through my bedroom drawer and took everything that was gold,” she says.
Sutherland was possibly the victim of burglars who distracted the elderly woman to enter her home. A few days before she noticed that the jewelry was missing, a man had approached her claiming to be a city official. He said the city would be trimming some trees and shrubs in the alley, and asked her to come to the alley to see. Sutherland spent about five or 10 minutes in back of her home. The man did not show identification or official city paperwork, she adds.
“He diverted me out to the alley. When I walked out the front door, he could have had someone else in his van,” Sutherland says. “That’s the only time that the house was unlocked that I wasn’t there. He made it seem like an official city notification.”
This type of crime is not unusual, and these types of scams happen periodically, says Dallas Police Lt. Barry Payne of the North Central Division. In this particular case, Payne says, the main problem occurred when the homeowner followed the “worker”, leaving her door open.
“Citizens should be advised to never go outside and leave a door open that is out of their view,” Payne says. “The citizen should not follow uninvited workers anywhere on their property, and should not deal with unsolicited workers who knock on their doors.
“If the worker claims to be from any city, county or public agency, he or she should have valid identification provided by the agency, and if it looks suspicious, ask for a phone number for the agency where the identification can be verified.”
Sutherland told police the man was Hispanic and driving a plain white unmarked van or truck.
“I suspect this was a gypsy, and he had assistants in the truck who went inside when they saw the woman go to the back of the house with the homeowner,” Payne says. “The gypsies particularly like to target elderly folks who are generally pretty trusting, which is what they key on and exploit. Gypsies also like to do home improvement scams to elderly folks, and Preston Hollow is one of the areas they like.
“I really hate to hear that this happened. We’ll keep on the watch for more like this. There’s rarely just one.”
