Cops Warn Community of 'Ruse Burglaries'

Oak Lawn police issued a community alert on Wednesday, asking residents to be on the lookout for "ruse burglars" who have been targeting elderly victims.

On Oct. 20, two incidents were reported to police, in which men conned their way into the homes of elderly victims within moments of each other. In both burglaries, the men posed as electric company or water department workers.

Elderly victims were instructed to flick light switches on and off, or fill buckets with water. While one of the men would distract the victims, his accomplices were ransacking rooms and rifling through drawers stealing cash and jewelry.

In the first , four men posing as electric company workers schemed their way into the home of two elderly women around 3 p.m. in the area of 9100 South Komensky. The men were described as being in their 30s, with light brown skin and driving a white van. The victims were able to provide a partial license plate number beginning with the numbers "984."

A few minutes later, ruse burglars talked their way into an elderly couple's home near the 6500 block of West 92nd Street, police said. The woman told police she answered a knock on the door inside the attached garage. A man told her that her son sent him to get two buckets of water to fix their lawn mower. The woman let the man into the house, where he filled two utility buckets with water from the kitchen sink.

When she went outside into the backyard, she spotted a second man talking to her husband about fencing. The man led the couple to the fence at the rear of the yard. After a few minutes, the couple went back into the house to check on the first man, only to find that he was nowhere inside the house. The husband told police that he saw a third man sitting inside a brown Suburban parked in the driveway. The couple soon noticed that all three men were gone.

The burglars got away with a large amount of cash and gold jewelry. Police found a hammer in the couple's bedroom that had been used to break open a safe. The couple also checked with their son, who was out of town on vacation, and he told his parents that he hadn't informed anyone of his vacation plans.

The three men were described as being in their mid-20s to early-30s, and well dressed. The man sitting inside the Suburban had reddish-brown hair and a beard.

Detective Thomas Cronin, senior citizen liaison officer for the Oak Lawn Police Department, said that 10 to 15 ruse burglaries have been committed in Oak Lawn since January.

These con artists generally tend to be more active in warmer months, when they will drive around neighborhoods looking for senior citizens outside their homes tending their gardens or working on the exterior of their houses.

"They'll use a scheme to work their way into the house. They'll tell victims that they're from the electric company or the water department of Oak Lawn," Cronin said. "One will take you into the basement and tell you to turn the faucets in the sink on and off, and the other will be upstairs ransacking the house."

In the case of the elderly victims on Komensky, one of the victims was getting her mail when the four men pulled up and told her that a car had struck a light pole behind her house and they needed to check the electricity. 

In addition to committing ruse burglaries, these criminals also pose as contractors, offering to do such work as driveway seal coating, tree trimming, roof repairs, chimney repairs, and water and sewer work. While talking to victims, especially the elderly, they'll assess victims' mental capacities, quoting low or high estimates for contracted jobs depending on victims' mental state. When the "work" is completed, they will demand more money from the victim. The work is always substandard.

Cronin has put together a PowerPoint presentation on ruse burglaries and home repair fraud that is available on the village website, which he presents to senior groups. Such crimes are committed against thousands of senior citizens throughout Illinois. Losses are estimated in the millions of dollars, and the Illinois State Police have an entire division devoted to tracking down con artists who prey upon the elderly.

Some of the data the detective has collected on ruse burglary and home-repair fraud victims includes:

• Female, 77 percent
• Male, 23 percent
• Age 65-79, 92 percent
• Single, 69 percent
• Married, 31 percent
• Retired, 93 percent
• Employed, 7 percent

Fifty-six-percent of these crimes occur on weekdays between 7 a.m. and noon; 42 percent occur between noon and 5 p.m. About half of these frauds are committed in the spring, when many homeowners are outside cleaning up their yards and repairing damage left over from the winter.

The average fraud victim is a white female between the ages of 65 and 79, who lives alone in a well-maintained, middle-class neighborhood. She is most likely to be approached on a weekday in the morning by two or more males who tell her that her home is in need of repair. The The con artists will either swindle the victim in a home repair fraud or engage her while their accomplices enter her home and steal valuables.

"Usually, however, they will open the door and walk right in," Cronin said.

Cronin said that even if arrests are made, it's hard to get a conviction. These con artists will change their appearance and cars, and will swap license plates. They keep in contact by Bluetooth, exchanging information as they drive around neighborhoods looking for victims. They often dress alike, so it is hard to get a detailed physical description of them.

"They target the elderly because their eyesight is poor. We got suspects' addresses and a photo book full of them," Cronin said. "This is how they make their living, and the losses are high, so it's hard to get an ID on them. A lot of victims say they were speaking a different language.

"Only once did I get a conviction."

Most of these offenders are nonviolent. They won't steal electronics or medications. "They're only interested in money and jewelry," Cronin said.

Still, he advises residents to watch out for their elderly neighbors and to call 911 if they see suspicious cars in their neighborhoods.

Cronin tells seniors at the village senior center not to confront these individuals should they make their way into their homes.

"Get to a phone, don't confront them. Dial 911 and leave it off the hook," the detective said. "Try to get a vehicle description."

Anyone with information about the ruse burglaries committed on Oct. 20, or anyone who suspects ruse burglars or home-repair con artists of operating in your neighborhood, should call Detective Thomas Cronin at 708-499-7845.

Detective Cronin will present a crime seminar for seniors at the Oak Lawn Senior Center, 5330 W. 95th St., at 10:30 a.m. Nov. 18.

Residents can sign up for "A Community United" online newsletter and safety alerts here.