PRESS RELEASE From: Police Department Contact: Public Information Officer, Lt. Malcolm Dupre Date: February 27, 2004
City of Thibodaux 1309 Canal Blvd. Thibodaux, LA 70301 985-446-7214
Scam on elderly Thibodaux citizens
The Thibodaux Police Department wishes to alert citizens ofa scam that has been taking place in the Thibodaux area.A black male, in his mid-thirties, approximately 5’10” tall and 200pounds usually wearing a red cap, is going to various homes and is claiming tothe resident that one of their outdoor water faucets is leaking.This male subject then offers to repair the leak.If the resident agrees to allowing the repair, the subject returnsshortly thereafter and advises the resident that the leak is repaired andpresents either a bill for services that he claims were rendered or announcesthe amount he should be paid for the repair.This amount varies from fifty dollars to hundreds of dollars.
In the investigation of this scam, it was learned that thefaucets are not leaking but the resident, usually elderly, believes that thereis a need of repair and pays the bill for the alleged repair.
In several recent visits to an elderly female in the Cityof Thibodaux, this male subject falsely stated that he made repairs to a faucetand maybe other plumbing needs.Hewas paid by check this day for his “services”.This subject returned a few days later and claimed that he was strugglingwith family problems, needed money to help a sick child, moving into a new home,or other false “sob stories”.Thefare-hearted female again gave the subject money to help with his troublingfamily problems.In all, therepairman received checks in the amount of two thousand, eight hundred dollarsfrom this one kind hearted lady.
This is not the only occurrence of this in recent months inThibodaux.There are several othercomplaints of similar nature where this scam artist is making off with moneyfrom elderly people for services not rendered.It is unknown of any such “repairs” being made that the residentbelieves they were having plumbing problems that were taken care of by thiseagle eyed repairman.
Detectives of the Thibodaux Police Department areinvestigating these complaints and are interested in learning if there are otherresidents that have similar contacts with this repairman.The Police Department is also seeking any information regarding knowledgeof elderly relatives or friends of people reading this article that may havebeen subjected to this scam.If youhave information regarding this, please call the Thibodaux Police Department at446-5021.
2008
