Elderly Woman Speaks Out After Being Robbed By Group Claiming To Be Hospital Workers
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — An elderly woman says she is nervous and scared after inviting a group of people claiming to be hospital workers into her home only for them to rob her family of every valuable they had.
"So everything's gone, everything except for the ring I have on my finger .. everything," the 88-year-old victim said.
Police say the suspects targeted a 90-year-old man, his 88-year-old wife and their disabled daughter in Woodside, Queens earlier this month, CBS2's Ilana Gold reports.
The couple was inside their home on Friday, May 1, when two suspects knocked on the door. One of them, a man, claimed to be from Long Island Jewish Medical Center and asked to see their daughter, police said.
One inside, the two suspects, a man and a woman, began asking questions to the couple about their daughter, police said.
The older woman started to question them and asked why they showed up without an appointment and why they couldn't have figured out what they needed to know using a medical computer, but they persisted, and insisted they needed to speak with the couple, the victims said.
The couple said the daughter walked into the room and said, "Hi, John," to one of the suspects, indicating that she knew him from the hospital, police said.
A third woman then walked in and asked to use the bathroom, police said.
The woman waked upstairs, purportedly to use the bathroom, but actually took the couple's jewelry and credit cards, police said. The older woman said the suspects also took her expensive mahogany jewelry box containing her wedding band, her engagement ring, her husband's 50th anniversary bracelet, and other pieces of jewelry.
"I screamed out to my husband that we've been robbed .. they have my jewelry box," said the 88-year-old victim. "They had a field day before I could cancel my charge card -- I was so nervous."
Surveillance video from the neighbor's house shows what appears to be the suspects walking out of the house then driving away.
Later that same day, cameras captured two women at Payless Shore Store in Rego Park Mall using a stolen credit card after a shopping spree.
The same two women, along with a man and two other women, were also captured on video at an Outback Steakhouse trying to use the stolen credit card, police said. But this time it didn't work.
Now, police need help in identifying the suspects.
Anyone with information was asked to call the NYPD Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS, log onto the Crime Stoppers website, or text tips to 274637 (CRIMES) and enter TIP577.
