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Police: Burglary crew poses as tree trimmers

ROSWELL, Ga. — Roswell police are looking for a burglary crew they said is posing as a tree trimming company.
 
On Jan. 3, police said an 82-year-old woman reported that a man knocked on her door claiming he needed to see her property line because he was cutting trees down in a neighbor's yard.
 
"There was no truck or car or any type of business sign of any type in her yard," Officer Lisa Holland told Channel 2's Mike Petchenik. "These people walked up without any identification."
 
Holland said the man lured the victim into her back yard, then called someone on his cellphone and started speaking in Spanish to them.
 
"She started feeling uncomfortable about that," said Holland.
 
Police said while the man talked to the victim, an accomplice entered her home on Bowen Road through an unlocked door and burglarized it, stealing a $7,000 diamond ring and the victims' late husband's wedding band.
 
Holland has a warning for other would-be victims.
 
"I wouldn't open the door to any stranger unless you called them to come over," she said.
 
Neighbor Shane O'Fallon said he was shocked to hear about the crime.  He told Petchenik he's now keeping an eye out for anyone attempting to pull off the same scam on someone else.
 
"I think it's pretty sick," he said.  "I guess when times are tough people do scams like this."
 
Last month, police in Alpharetta reported a similar crime in which an elderly woman called 911 to report similar behavior before anyone could break into her home.  Police in Cobb County were investigating a similar break-in there, but Roswell police weren't certain the cases were all related.