Northeast Tarrant con artists targeting elderly residents

A team of thieves posing as Oncor workers is targeting elderly residents in Northeast Tarrant County, stealing jewelry, money and credit cards after being allowed in homes, police said Friday.

Police are searching for two men and a woman who are suspects in three cases — one in Richland Hills and two in North Richland Hills.

Police released a surveillance camera photo of the woman as she used a stolen credit card, as well as a photo of the truck that dropped her off and picked her up.

Oncor officials have confirmed with police that they had no work requests for the targeted residences and that their employees are not supposed to enter homes. Oncor equipment is located outside homes.

The most recent theft occurred shortly after 2 p.m. Dec. 27 in the 6800 block of Hovenkamp Avenue in Richland Hills.

A 76-year-old woman told police that a man claiming to be with Oncor came to her home and said that the neighborhood had a power outage. He told her that he needed to check the breaker box in her home, police said.

Once inside, he checked the breaker box and walked through the house turning on the lights, police said.

To distract her, the man asked the woman to turn the light switch off and on while he searched for an electrical short, police said. Minutes later, he told the resident that there was a short and that he would submit a repair request.

After he left, the woman discovered that jewelry, money and a credit card were missing.

“Her card was used within an hour at a gas station in North Richland Hills,” Richland Hills police Sgt. Sheena Parsons said Friday. “And then almost two hours later, it was used several times in Dallas at a Wal-Mart and a gas station.”

The man is described as white and about 50 years old and 6 feet tall, with brown hair and blue eyes and cleanshaven. He is believed to be driving a small older-model green or blue single-cab truck, possibly a Mazda.

North Richland Hills police have received two reports of similar cases. One fits the description of the man in Richland Hills, but he drove a dark four-door vehicle. The other had a man in his 20s who was driving a vehicle similar to the one in the Richland Hills case.

Anyone with information is asked to contact investigator J. Carrion at 817-616-3788 or at jcarrion@richlandhills.com or to call Crime Stoppers at 817-469-8477.

This story was originally published January 2, 2015 at 2:05 PM with the headline "Northeast Tarrant con artists targeting elderly residents."