‘You feel very foolish for letting this happen ...’ Fake FPL workers steal $25k in jewelry
Diane Reeves was asleep in her Miramar home when she was jarred awake by her dog Trampus “barking his head off.”
Still groggy from a medical procedure, Reeves, 81, realized there was someone at the door. He had on an orange cap and a black mask and said he worked for FPL.
“You know how scary you look with those sunglasses and that mask,” she told the man, doorbell video from the June 25th incident shows. He laughed and took the sunglasses off.
The man, who never gave his name, said he needed to get in her backyard as part of work being done in the neighborhood. She said she’d meet him the back.
But the man — who police say was working with partner — wasn’t there to fix the electricity. Instead, according to police, the phony FPL workers stole more than $25,000 worth of jewelry.
“They took a whole lifetime of jewelry and sentimental pieces that can never be replaced,” said Reeves, who wanted to share her story so others don’t fall victim to similar schemes. “You feel very foolish for letting this happen to you.”
But police called Reeves “courageous” for speaking out on a crime that officers have seen too frequently.
“This can happen to anyone, at any age,” said Tania Rues, a spokeswoman for Miramar police.
“She did a lot of things right here and it still happened.”
KNOCK AT THE DOOR
Reeves said she likes to think of her self as a savvy 81-year-old and is usually very skeptical of people at her door.
But there had been a lot of workers in her neighborhood as they were replacing septic tanks with sewer lines.
She didn’t open the door of her her screened porch or let him into her home.
When she met him around back, he started explaining what they had to do.
“It didn’t make any sense to me,” she said. “Then he said ‘wait here. I’ll be right back, doll.’”
He then got his partner. She made him take his mask off because she didn’t understand.
At some point, one of them must have slipped in to her house through the back door.
After they left, she immediately notice two drawers were out of her jewelry box. She said in all they went through five drawers, taking decades of memories including wedding rings and family heirlooms.
OTHER CASES
Rues said there was a similar case in Miramar on May 22, but these types of distraction crimes are increasingly more common.
Some tips from the department:
Never let anyone into your home who you don’t know or who you were not expecting
Call the company the person works for to verify it really is a worker
Even if you are going outside, make sure your door is locked
Always report anything that may seem suspicious to police
Anyone with information about Reeves’ case is asked to call Broward Crime Stoppers at 954493-TIPS (8477).
AAAACarli Teproff: 305-376-3587, @cteproff