Amber Holladay said her home was robbed by a Lubbock Power and Light impersonator on Wednesday afternoon. Lubbock Police are investigating the incident, which they say may be connected to other similar crimes around town.
Holladay spoke with EverythingLubbock.com Thursday and explained to EverythingLubbock.com what happened Wednesday.
She said she was doing house work at her residence near 38th and Englewood when the doorbell rang. She described the person at the door as a man wearing a new-looking LP&L hat, a long sleeve shirt, and an orange mesh vest.
He told her that he was with LP&L and needed to check her water heater, she added that he mentioned something about checking gas. Holladay has lived in Lubbock her whole life and has never had problems with LP&L workers, so she allowed the man into her home because she assumed that’s where he was employed.
“I had opened the door like this and he went in and went in straight all up behind me, he knew the whole layout of the house,” Holladay said. She recalled that the man went straight to her water heater and pulled out an “orange gadget” which he placed against the heater.
“And he asked me to move these buckets out of the way and he put his little tester in [with the water heater] and he said, ‘do you mind going up stairs to turning the water off?’
So Holladay went upstairs, turned the water off, and when she returned the man had vanished. She thought the whole interaction seemed weird, so she called her husband immediately.
“And he said is anything missing? And I looked an my purse was hanging on the door of the hot water heater and my wallet was gone. And nothing else was missing but my wallet was gone,”
Upon realizing she’d been robbed, Holladay wondered why she hadn’t detected what the man was doing earlier.
“My heart was beating fast, gosh it was all wrong,” She said. “No he wasn’t with LP&L, as soon as my husband mentioned that, it made sense. He wouldn’t have worked it out for me to be in another part of the house, that’s not how any other LP&L person would have behaved, ever.”
LP&L is aware of the investigation into this incident and they agree, what Holladay described is not how their employees would behave. An LP&L spokesman said that no LP&L employee should ever be trying to enter a customer’s home, and if you see someone doing so, you should call the police.
Holladay said she called the police once she realized she’d been robbed.
“LP&L was on the phone when police were with me, they both took it very seriously. They spent a long time going around the neighborhood and checking. And yes [the suspect] had been to a bunch of other houses.”
The incident has made Holladay more nervous about her security at home. She explained that she and her husband slept with a baseball bat next to their bed Wednesday night.
Halladay explained that she was able to cancel her credit cards and didn’t lose much of monetary value. But she said she felt embarrassed, and wanted to share her story to prevent others from making the same mistake.
“Just make sure the people [at your door] are with who they say they’re with,” she said. “Call and check , LP&L wouldn’t have had any problem with me calling and asking them if there was supposed to be somebody at my house. All I had to do was make a phone call to make sure, and I didn’t do that, and I’ll know better next time.”
News Release from Lubbock Police:
On Wednesday, October 5, 2016 at approximately 5:00 p.m. a woman
reported a theft at her home in the 5600 block of 38th Street. She says a
man came to her front door presenting himself as a city employee with
Lubbock Power and Light, and that he needed to check her water heater for
leaks. She allowed him to enter, and he went straight to her water heater
and appeared to know the layout of the residence. She was asked to go
upstairs to turn on a bathroom faucet, and after a short time she returned
downstairs to find the man had abruptly left. She reported her wallet had
been stolen out of her purse that was located near the water heater.
The woman described him as a Hispanic male wearing a City of Lubbock hat
and an orange vest. She also says he was speaking on a cell phone leading
her to believe he was communicating with someone at LP&L.
Another woman in her neighborhood reported a man with this same
description had approached her home. However, when he would not show
any credentials she refused to let him inside.
Other calls reported the man was also knocking on doors in the 2000 block
of Albany Avenue and the 5300 block of 20th Street. Those calls indicate he
was driving a white Dodge Charger and that a rear tire appeared to be a
spare.
We would like to make the public aware of this safety concern and to warn
residents to be cautious when allowing unknown individuals into their
homes. If at any time a resident believes something to be suspicious they
are urged to call police.
The Lubbock Police Department asks anyone with information about this
case to call Crime Line at 806-741-1000.
(News release from Lubbock Police Department)
