2 Swindlers in Burbank Use Elaborate Schemes to Rob 3 Women of $15,500

Theresa Gillen didn’t want to get involved at first when the elegant woman in a white dress approached her on a sidewalk and asked in Spanish where she might deposit some money.

Gillen, a 22-year-old Burbank resident who is conversant in Spanish, said she told her to go to a nearby bank. But the woman stayed at Gillen’s side as she continued walking along Glenoaks Boulevard near Magnolia Boulevard in Burbank.

After a few minutes, Gillen said, her apprehension was softened by an offer of $1,000 in cash if she would help the woman donate $2,000 to charities, provided Gillen could come up with money of her own as a “show of good-faith.”

But once the elaborate scheme had run its course, the woman and a male accomplice had made off with $550 from Gillen, making her possibly the third victim in a series of similar swindles during the past three months, Burbank police said.

Police believe that the same Latino couple has stolen at least $15,550, including the cash taken Monday from Gillen, said Police Sgt. Don Goldberg.

“We feel this is a well-organized gang of thieves who appear to prey on the sympathy of female victims,” Goldberg said. “It’s an unusual crime, and people should be aware of these types of circumstances. There is no reason to think they may not attempt to do it again in Burbank.”

Monday’s crime was almost identical to one in which a Los Angeles woman lost her $8,000 savings June 6, Goldberg said. That swindle occurred in the 300 block of Pass Avenue, he said.

Lottery Jackpot

Goldberg said police believe that the same couple was responsible for a robbery May 26 in which a woman offered a 53-year-old Burbank woman part of a $130,000 lottery jackpot in return for helping her prove U. S. citizenship to qualify for the prize.

As in the other crimes, the victim was asked to withdraw a large amount of cash to show “good-faith.” The victim withdrew $7,000 from a bank. As she left the building, a male accomplice grabbed the cash, and the couple fled, Goldberg said.

“The suspect descriptions match,” Goldberg said. “There is no doubt the suspects are the same.”

In the last two crimes, a woman about 30 years old who appeared pregnant approached the victims and asked them to help her donate money to charities, Goldberg said. The woman told the victims that she had $10,000 and came from a wealthy family in Costa Rica, where she planned to return as soon as she gave away the money, Goldberg said.

The woman told the victims that she would give them $2,000 to donate to charities and $1,000 that they could keep if they went to their banks and withdrew cash to show that they were trustworthy, Goldberg and Gillen said.

“She said, ‘I will give you the money plus $1,000 for yourself,’ ” Gillen said. “I was shocked.”

Approached by Man

The woman and the victim were then approached by a man in his early 40s, who said he had overheard their conversation and would trust the woman with $1,000 if he could help donate the woman’s money, Goldberg said.

Gillen said she believes that the man was trying to get her to cooperate by making her believe that she was competing with him for the woman’s money. At the same time, he wanted her to feel that they were working together to help a stranger carry out a good deed, Gillen said.

“I told her, ‘I don’t have time, I have to go back to work,’ and he said, ‘You can make a sacrifice,’ ” Gillen said.

“He was kind of pressuring me, and I felt kind of bad because she was pregnant.”

Convinced that the woman was sincere, the victims went to their banks, usually no more than a block or two away, and returned with the money, Goldberg said. Then the man returned, giving the woman money that he said he had gotten at his nearby house, Gillen said.

At that point, the woman feigned pregnancy-related pains and asked the man to go to a pharmacy to buy a painkiller, Goldberg said. The man left but quickly returned to say the pharmacist told him only women could purchase the drug she needed.

Asked to Go to Pharmacy

The man then asked the victim to go to the pharmacy to buy the drug, Goldberg said. He asked her to leave her money with him. After all, he said, he had trusted the woman enough to leave his money with her while he went to the pharmacy.

The victims did as they were told. But there was no pharmacy and when they returned, the couple had disappeared, Goldberg said.

“It all hit me at that time,” Gillen said.

“It should have hit me before. It doesn’t pay to talk to strangers, even if they offer you money like that.”