Aurora thief preying on kindness of local business employees
Aurora police are searching for a thief they say has given a few Oscar-worthy performances while bilking local businesses out of cash.
Spokesman Dan Ferrelli said the man has entered restaurants, a gas station and a hotel in recent days and feigned being in personal distress as he talked employees of three of the businesses into giving him money for aid — allegedly with the permission of the business owners.
Police released a surveillance photo of the man Wednesday afternoon, but Ferrelli declined to answer several questions about the case, including how much cash the man has taken.
“We're not disclosing further details on any of these questions because they're only known to the offender, victims and police and further elaboration may hinder the investigation,” Ferrelli said. “That said, it does appear that this guy is a pretty good actor.”
Police describe the suspect as a balding white man, about 5 feet 7 inches tall, and weighing between 165 and 190 pounds. They say he has a tattoo of a bird or eagle on his right arm and an unknown tattoo on his left arm.
Ferrelli said the suspect attempted his ruse at two restaurants — one at 8:10 p.m. July 26 on the 1200 block of North Lake Street and the other at 5:45 p.m. July 27 on the 2900 block of Kirk Road.
The suspect also is believed to have tried it at two additional locations on July 27: a hotel at 1:03 a.m. on the 2400 block of Sullivan Road and a gas station at 6:10 p.m. on the 1300 block of Butterfield Road.
Aside from saying he's having a personal emergency, police say the man also pretends to make phone calls to the business owners in the presence of the employees before telling them that the owners have granted permission for him to borrow money. He successfully obtained undisclosed amounts of cash from all of his targets except the hotel.
On one occasion, he was seen getting into a gray SUV, similar to a Jeep Renegade, which was driven by a black male.
Anyone with information is asked to call Aurora police at (630) 256-5500 or Aurora Area Crime Stoppers at (630) 892-1000. Callers to Crime Stoppers are anonymous and qualify for a cash reward of up to $5,000 for information that leads to any arrests.