Transient Arrested in Tow Truck Scheme
Police have arrested a 51-year-old transient who allegedly fleeced about 50 residents with a story about needing money for a tow truck to remove his daughter’s stranded car from a freeway.
Joseph Ware, 51, was arrested Wednesday in a parking lot near 33rd Street and Atlantic Avenue, Long Beach Police Sgt. Steve Filippini said Thursday.
In the last few weeks, police had received dozens of complaints involving a con man who told residents that he needed money to pay for a tow truck.
The scam artist knocked on people’s front doors at 3 a.m. or 4 a.m., telling them he was an official from Cal State Long Beach, said Det. Greg McMullen of the major fraud unit.
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