Woman, 89, thwarts suspects wanting to ‘spray for iguanas’

An 89-year-old woman wasn’t fooled by two wouldbe thieves when they claimed to be at her home to spray for iguanas.

One trickster drew the woman to her backyard Saturday, but something didn’t feel right to her. She went back inside, where a second stranger was standing in her living room, according to the Broward Sheriff ’s Office.

She persuaded the thieves — who traveled in a blue or green pickup with a house design sign on the driver’s door — to leave.

The woman — who did not want to be named because the bad guys are still on the loose — told the president of her homeowner’s association what happened and a neighbor drove around, searching for the pickup. A call was made to 911 but by that time, 45 minutes later, deputies were not able to find the men, said Capt. Thomas Palmer, the BSO chief of the Lauderdaleby-the-Sea district.

“We’re currently investigating if property was re-

moved from the house,” Palmer said.

There have not been incidents like this in the town lately, Palmer said. They’re called distraction crimes because thieves who sometimes work in teams will divert a victim’s attention while stealing from them. And this is likely the first involving reptiles.

“This is the first time I’ve ever heard the ruse ‘to spray for iguanas,’ ” Palmer said. “They also asked the victim if she received a notice that the town was paying for it.”

The town does not have a pest control contractor for iguanas, officials said.

The lizards are “making a comeback” many years after a cold winter killed off a lot of them, town spokesman Steve d’Oliveira said.

In Lauderdale-by-theSea, “The town does not remove them,” d’Oliveira said. “So if anyone claims they represent the town for that purpose, they are doing so for nefarious reasons.”

While pretending to be iguana exterminators may be a method for distraction thieves, they may also say they need to check a home’s water pressure or a meter, or pretend that they represent a utility.

Sometimes they’ll use children or teens who will claim they’re selling magazines and engage an unsuspecting homeowner at the front entrance while others will enter a house through the back door.

In Boynton Beach two years ago, police warned of a man who knocked on a then 88-year-old woman’s door. He told her he would be cutting a neighbor’s trees and insisted she go to the backyard so he could show her how debris may fall onto her property. While she was out, a second person went inside her house and stole her gold wedding band and other valuables.

Palmer said in addition to burglars who pose as Florida Power & Light Co. or Comcast workers, he’s heard of thieves who pretend to sell cleaning products that then have to be washed off the victim, allowing the criminals to get inside a house.

If someone claims to be performing work for the town, “You absolutely have the right to ask anyone for identification and can verify it with the town or with us,” Palmer said.

Elders who live alone are frequent targets in these kinds of schemes, police say.

If you didn’t request a service, don’t open your door to strangers who knock, and don’t accept their invitations to come outside.

A utility worker or other vendor should wear a uniform with the appropriate logo and have a work ID. Also, don’t wait to report a thief ’s approach to police.

“The faster we find out about it, the better chance we have to catch somebody committing crimes,” Palmer said.

Distraction thieves may also say they need to check a home’s water pressure or a meter, or pretend that they represent a utility.