Medical Alarm Drives Away Scammers Harassing Elderly Couple

A group of men claiming to do yard work for an elderly Tinley Park couple appear to have been scammers who got away with nearly $10,000 cash.

The couple, who are both 88 years old, discovered a lock box, which contained jewelry, blank checks and $9,800 in cash, missing from an upstairs bedroom, according to a Tinley Park police report.

A man approached the wife before 2 p.m. June 7, just after she opened the garage door to wash out garbage cans at her home in the 8800 block of Bluebird Drive, the report stated. Another man talked with her husband while two others walked through her house, the report added.

A large, black vehicle pulled into the driveway and a heavy-set man in his mid-40s grabbed the woman's arm and hurried her into the backyard, the report stated. He said he was supposed to start yard work the next day and, after he was asked to show paperwork to prove it, claimed he would bring it with him when work began.

After she saw two of the men walk out of her house and into the backyard, the woman pressed a medical alarm she wears on a chain around her neck, according to the report. The men left after noticing she had activated the alarm.

Police checked the upstairs bedroom and found the door ajar, the report stated. An officer discovered damage to a part of the closet where the lock box had been.

The husband, who doesn't have good eyesight, was unable to provide a description of the men who talked to him, according to the report. The woman described two of the suspects as being heavy-set, 5-feet, 8-inches tall and in their 40s.

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