Saratoga News
News
Burglars are targeting the elderly
By Shannon Burkey
Men claiming to be water company workers robbed a 94-year-old Saratoga woman's home of $70,000 in cash and jewelry on Dec. 11.
The robbery is similar to others taking place throughout the Bay Area over the last two months by three men posing as water company repairmen, according to the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office.
Although there are some slight differences between those robberies and the one in Saratoga, Sgt. Dan Rodriguez of the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office said it could be the same men.
"The circumstances are pretty similar," Rodriguez said. "This is a very unique scam and there are too many similarities that it's not a coincidence."
In the similar Bay Area cases, two men claiming to be water company repairmen have been going to residences and telling the homeowners that a water line in the area is broken and they need to check the lines at the person's home. While the homeowner takes one of the men outside to look at their water lines, the other one robs the home.
According to Rodriguez, only one man approached the Saratoga home. But when the woman answered her door she was told by the man, dressed in utility worker's clothes, that he was from the water company and there was a broken sewer pipe in the area and he needed to check her pipes for contamination.
After the man left, the woman noticed the items and money were missing and notified the police. The woman never saw a second man, but authorities believe he came into the house while the woman showed the first man to her outside water lines.
This recent incident is also very similar to another robbery that occurred in Saratoga on Sept. 9 where robbers, also claiming to be from the water company, took a 14-karat gold ring and several other items from the home of an elderly woman, Rodriguez said.
"It's the same scam all over again," he said.
The men appear to be targeting the elderly, Rodriguez said, and he urges people to be careful of any unknown people coming to their doors.
