Crime & Safety
Police Seeking Suspected Burglars Posing as City Workers
Police officials urge residents to avoid allowing strangers into their home without first confirming with the utility companies they appear to be representing.
A San Leandro resident was burglarized after police say she allowed a man and a woman posing as city utility workers into her home over the weekend.
On Feb. 8, the duo told a resident in the 1000 block of Dutton Ave. that they were at her home "on behalf of the city to investigate flooding." While inside, the suspects stole some of the resident's possessions and then fled the area in a dark-colored pickup truck.
According to a statement released by police, the suspects are described as a white male in his 20s and a white female in her 20s.
It is not known if the suspects wore a city uniform during the incident.
Lt. Randall Brandt stated, "The Bay Area has been victimized by similar scams and citizens should not allow anyone into their residences without confirming with their utility companies prior. Very rarely will a utility company need to enter a residence to investigate potential issues."
At the end of August, police released video surveillance photos of a woman who claimed to be searching for a poisonous snake and then burglarized a home in Fremont.
Related article: (Weird) News Around the Bay: Snake Scammers in Fremont
Please contact the San Leandro Police Department's Criminal Investigations Division with any information regarding this case at 510-577-3230 or contact the Anonymous Tip Line at 510-577-3278.
Citizens can also send an anonymous tip to San Leandro Police Department by texting the word SLPD and their tip to 847411. Anonymous web tips can be submitted from the Police Department's website at http://www.sanleandro.org/depts/pd/at.asp
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