Rowan County Sheriff’s officials are looking for two men who played a well-known con game on an elderly homeowner last week.
And they are warning other homeowners to be wary of people posing as utility workers.
On Thursday, two men, riding in a 2008 blue GMC truck, came to the victim’s home near Interstate 85.
The men, wearing yellow vests, said they were utility workers and needed to find power lines in the homeowner’s back yard.
“As one suspect spoke to the victim, the second suspect entered the victim’s home and stole money from the victim’s purse,” Sheriff’s Capt. John Sifford said in a press release today.
Detectives have identified one of the suspects as Johnny Sherlock, from Augusta, S.C.
“This suspect and others have been involved in other similar type crimes in the past and are well known by the S.C. Law Enforcement Division (SLED) and local law enforcement agencies in South Carolina.
Sheriff’s investigators have obtained warrants on Sherlock and entered the information in the national law enforcement data base.
“This scam is known as the ‘Irish Traveler’s Scam,’ with the suspects usually working in pairs and switching vehicles after the crime,” Sifford said in the release. “These crimes usually occur close to interstates and highways.”
Sheriff’s investigators would like to talk to anyone who may have been approached in a similar manner and would like them to look at a “line-up for several of the Sherlock suspects and their associates,” Sifford said.
The suspects’ truck had a S.C. license plate no. 4024DV.
Anyone with information regarding this crime or others like it, should contact Sgt. Chad Moose at 704-216-8687 or Crime Stoppers at 1-866-639-5245.