The Dalton Police Department is asking for the public’s help to identify two women who scammed an elderly man out of $1,500. The women told the man that they needed money to collect a lottery prize.
The incident happened in early November at the Walmart Neighborhood Market on Walnut Avenue. The victim, a 77-year-old man, was walking to the store when he was approached by two Hispanic women.
The women asked the victim, who does not speak English, for a ride to a Hispanic grocery store. The man agreed to give them women a ride. Once in his van, the women told the victim they had won the lottery, but needed money to claim the prize. They said that if he agreed to give them $2,000 to help them collect the money, they would give him much more money in return for his trouble. The unsuspecting victim agreed, and drove to the Wells Fargo bank on Hamilton Street at withdrew $1,000 in cash, which he placed in the glove compartment of his vehicle. He then drove to a nearby Bank of America location and withdrew $500 from an account there. The women insisted that they still needed another $500, and the victim told them he could get it from his residence. The women refused to go to his house, saying they would wait for him at the post office on Thornton Avenue. The man dropped them off there, and when he returned with the rest of the cash, the women were gone. The victim then realized that the $1,500 cash from his bank withdrawals which he’d left in his car was missing.
The suspects were recorded by store surveillance at the Walmart arriving in a silver SUV with a Hispanic male who is also being considered as a suspect by investigators. The male suspect also approached the victim in the parking lot before he left with the women. The female suspects and the person of interest were recorded entering and leaving the store without buying anything before they approached the victim as he arrived in the store’s parking lot. The first suspect wore a light colored coat, dark pants, and a beanie hat. The second suspect wore her hair in a ponytail with a blue and white striped shirt and multicolored patterned pants and light shoes. The male suspect in the case wore a blue button down collared shirt with navy blue pants.
Anyone who has information on this crime or the identity of these three individuals is asked to please contact Detective Charles Williams with the Dalton Police Department at 706-278-9085, extension 9280.