On Tuesday, October 30th, 2012, at 10:55 am, an 88 year old senior citizen was approached by an adult male suspect in the parking lot of Wal-Mart, located at 5845 W. Bell Rd in Glendale. The suspect told the victim that her vehicle had lost a large metal part, but he had fixed the vehicle for her. The suspect handed the victim a business card from an automotive repair center telling her the repair is typically very expensive, but he had just saved her a lot of money. The suspect told the victim he would only charge her $3,000.00 for the repair.
Not realizing she was being scammed, the victim told the suspect that she didn’t have any money with her, but she could go to the bank and get the money for him. The victim and suspect then drove to a local bank in the area of 4300 W. Bell Road at which point the victim went into the bank and made a withdrawal of $3,000.00. The victim then gave the $3,000.00 in cash to the suspect. The suspect immediately left, possibly in a white full-size pickup truck.
Police obtained excellent surveillance video of the suspect. He appears to be a white male between 40 and 50 years old, about 5’8”-5”10” tall, weighing approximately 160 lbs, with a slight grey beard and very short dark hair. He was last seen wearing a yellow t-shirt, red or orange shorts, white socks and white tennis shoes.
Glendale Police Fraud and Forgery Detectives have been diligently working on this case and have recently exhausted all leads. Detectives are seeking the community’s help identifying the suspect involved in this crime. The Glendale Police Department encourages anyone that has information on the suspect to call the Glendale Police Department at (623) 930-3000 or Silent Witness at 480-WITNESS.
Glendale Fraud and Forgery Detectives have recently seen an increase in scams targeted at senior citizen as the holiday season approaches. The Public Information Office would like an opportunity to provide related tips to the public to help protect our senior citizens from con artists. Sound will provided at the media’s request.
Furthermore, a copy of the surveillance video is available to the media for pickup at the Glendale Police Record’s desk located at 6835 N. 57th Drive.