The Region - News from May 3, 1985

Two men were arrested for allegedly trying to bilk an elderly South Los Angeles man out of his life savings of $30,000 by posing as police officers investigating a previous incident in which he was conned out of $450 by others. Theodore Curtis, 51, and Charles Crooks, 53, reportedly told the 82-year-old victim they needed to photograph his money as part of the investigation, but bank employees were suspicious and declined to let him withdraw his savings. Instead, said bunco-forgery Lt. Fred Reno, they called the real police who arrested Curtis and Crooks when they returned to the bank with the victim for another try. The pair have extensive arrest records, officers said, and are awaiting trial in a similar case. Each has numerous aliases. Police asked other possible victims to call bunco-forgery detectives at (213) 485-3795.