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Man poses as utility worker, steals thousands of dollars worth from 95-year-old Madison Heights woman

Thief said he needed to shut off the electricity to gain access to home

MADISON HEIGHTS, Mich. – A 95-year-old woman was scammed by a man posing as a utility worker in Madison Heights.

He pretended to work on her home, but instead he ransacked it.

“The man came to the door,” said Charlotte Grzesiak.

95-year old Charlotte Grzesiak said it was Tuesday afternoon when she saw a man who claimed to be a worker for a power company at her door. She saw that he was wearing a worker’s vest, so she let him in.

“And then he told me, ‘I have to shut off your electricity, because they’re working on the wires.’ I said, ‘Why won’t you come back when my son comes?’ ‘No, no, I have to do this right now,’” Grzesiak recalled.

She said the man was driving a black car. He came inside and started walking through each room. He flipped on and off the light switches, then he left. Grzesiak said she went into her bedroom and noticed her drawers open.

“I had all of my good jewelry in there and other kind of jewelry was in there,” Grzesiak said. “It was so many things that my husband bought me. It was about six or more, rings there, very expensive ones.”

And that makes things harder since her husband passed some years ago. She said her bracelets, chains were worth more than $50,000. He even stole her check book and $500 in cash.

“It just makes me sick, you know,” Grzesiak said.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Madison Heights Police Department at 248-585-2100.

A fundraiser has been set up for Charlotte Grzesiak. You can donate here.


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