CBS2 Exclusive: Staten Island Woman Robbed At Gunpoint By Police Impersonators
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A Staten Island woman claims that men posing as police officers invaded her home and robbed her.
As CBS2's Dave Carlin reported exclusively Friday night, the victim said she did not even realize she was being robbed until everything was gone, and it was too late.
"I was sleeping, and all of a sudden, I heard somebody knock at the door," said the victim, Chandrani Wijayagoonewardene.
Wijayagoonewardene awoke to find four men outside the front door of her home on Scott Avenue, in the South Beach section of Staten Island.
One man was dark-skinned, clean-shaven, and in his 50s, Wijayagoonewardene said. He appeared to be the leader, with what looked like a police badge hanging from a chain around his neck.
"I believed it," she said, "Then I opened the door."
She said the man also had a gun, and told her to cooperate with a police investigation.
"He walked me to the bathroom with his gun," Wijayagoonewardene said.
But the man and his accomplices were not police officers. And they ransacked the house and stole electronics and more.
"They took everything. They took everything," she said, "This is my expensive jewelry."
She said they stole a necklace valued at $6,000, along with the tip money that she earned working at a country club.
"I had a piggy bank over here. I put for my granddaughter to get something for Christmas. The cash they took -- more than $1,500," Wijayagoonewardene said.
The robbery lasted just half an hour. When the robbers left, she still thought they were cops.
She didn't realize what had happened until her son came home.
"After my son came home and he told me, 'You got robbed,'" she said.
Police cautioned that residents should never let anyone inside, and that even those who claim to be cops can be double checked by calling 911.
"Now I'm not going to open the door for anybody," Wijayagoonewardene said.
She said doubts she will ever get her treasures back, but is grateful no one got hurt.
You May Also Be Interested In These Stories
