Woman convinced to hold down toilet handle as conman robs her
A 91-year-old Jersey City woman was conned by a burglar pretending to be a utility company employee. He told her that there was a water emergency and that if she didn't hold down the flusher on her toilet, the house would explode. Meanwhile, he stole almost $4000 in cash from her apartment. From The Jersey Journal:
The man first opened and shut a faucet in the kitchen and then went into the victim's bathroom where he flushed the toilet, reports said."Jersey City senior holds toilet handle while water company impostor ransacks house" (via Fortean Times)
The man then instructed the victim to "hold down the flush handle or else the house will explode," reports said...
But after about two minutes, the victim told police "I didn't care if the house exploded" and walked into her living-room, at which time she discovered her house had been ransacked, reports said.
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Is this Hot Chicks and Douchebags day at BB?
Jim Jones, Officer schmuck, bubbleheads selling the intertubes, now a guy robbing a nice old lady...
I await the next installation.
On a day like this, the Chaser might be a picture of a unicorn with five skewered toddler corpses rotting on his horn.
Eeew. I just grossed myself out.
What a loopy, out-of-the-box idea.
Didn't she read Mark's post from Friday?
Ldy dsrvs t fr bng dmb.
avar1ce,
Drop Teresa a note if you'd like your account reinstated.
Wow. This really reminds me of the story my Croatian friend told me. When he and his best friends were kids, they grabbed a phone directory and prank-called this old lady. They told her they were from the water company and there was a problem with the supply, so she needed to run all the taps in her house and collect the water.
When she had gone and done that they told her, "Now go and wash your feet in them, we can smell them all the way from here!"
They let her rant at them for a good minute or so before hanging up.
(What she was doing believing a pair of 13 year old boys were actually from the water company, I have no idea!)
How about we get rid of jail sentences for non-violent, non-trafficking drug crimes and make up for it by being extra nasty to people who prey on the elderly?
I'm not saying she deserved it, and I think we can give a 91-year old woman a little latitude for being duped...but who the hell a) keeps 4 large just sitting around the house in cash and b) keeps it somewhere where someone with no prior knowledge of where it might be can find it in under 2 minutes?
Old people. It's quite normal. She was in her teens and twenties during the Great Depression. Think about it.
the way the financial systems going?
You know she held it down a lot longer than 2 minutes.
wow, when did the flash become a burglar?
C'mon she was 91 years old! Give her a break. Actually, this is quite a common con that happens all the time. People don't know a lot about plumbing - that's why plumber's fees are so high. I have a PhD in Physics which goes almost unnoticed at job interviews, but when I mention that I taught myself plumbing the room is filled with awe.
Wow, it would never occur to me in a million years that I could get away with that.
I was wondering why this was posted on BB and then, just as I was becoming convinced it was there for voyeurism / a cheap laugh at the elderly (not nice), I read Mercury Transit's comment and all was well.
Who on earth keeps $4000 in cash?
Ah. Another tale of woe from Jersey City. Poor old woman, considering she was 91, she probably kept the money there because she quite honestly didn't trust banks because SHE LIVED THROUGH THE GREAT DEPRESSION.
I hope they find the guy and throw the book at him.
On the upside, she walked into the living room. It could have gone differently.