Elderly Man Robbed by "City Workers"

Bad men at work

​An 83-year-old San Francisco man was bullied into giving up his cash during a home invasion robbery in which two men posed as city water workers coming to repair a water leak.

According to San Francisco police, the victim, who lives on the 2300 block of 16th Avenue in the Sunset District, got a knock at his door Saturday afternoon. When he answered, he was surprised to find two men wearing yellow safety jackets claiming to be with the city's Water Department. The two "workers" said they were there in response to a neighbor's complaint about a water leak inside the victim's home.

The man told them he had no water damage that he knew of; but the two workers insisted on coming inside. They went into the kitchen and broke a pipe underneath the sink, causing water to leak.

So now there was damage to repair.

The victim felt intimidated as the two workers were telling him that his neighbor was going to sue him if he didn't get this leak fixed ASAP. They told him it would cost "a large amount of money" to fix the leak.

Feeling scared, the victim went to his bedroom and grabbed all the money he had. He handed it over  to them while still asking questions about the purported leak. One of the robbers pushed the man to the ground, snatched his money, and ran from the house.

Police had very few details about the robbers other than they were both white men -- one was in his 50s, and the other appeared to be the man's son. Anyone with information is asked to call the Police Department's anonymous tip line at 575-4444, or send a tip by text message to TIP411.

On a side note, does this mean those "city workers" will be collecting pensions payments, too?

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