Local

Buckhead woman says AC thieves posed as Carrier employees

BUCKHEAD, Ga. — A Metro Atlanta woman says she caught three men trying to steal copper from her AC units in broad daylight.

At first, Jo Ellen Bradley-Jones said the three men, who approached her Buckhead home, appeared to be legitimate workers.

"I looked out and there's somebody out there standing there with a service pad and they're filling it out with some information," she said.

Bradley-Jones decided not to answer her door at 2 p.m. Friday, May 31, since she didn't know what they wanted. But a few minutes later she heard a loud noise.

"I go back to working, and I hear this noise. It's like, 'Shhhhhh,' and the perpetrators were out here. One had a hat on and they were just down here cutting all the lines. They had screw drivers and were taking the top off, so I'm going, 'What in the world is going on?'" explained Bradley-Jones.

She says the men told her there was a leak, which police say they created when they cut the Freon lines and a gas line.

The three men claimed they worked for one of the largest manufacturers of AC units, and their boss was on the way to help.

"He said, 'I'm from Carrier.' Well there was a white, unmarked van with a Massachusetts license plate, so, obviously they were not with Carrier, and they were not in uniform," Bradley-Jones said.

Bradley-Jones said the men brushed off her questions and made their way over to their van and peeled out. She immediately called 911 and police sent out a 'Be On the Look-Out' call to other officers in the area. The men still haven't been caught.