Investigators Seek Fraud Suspect – June 6, 2014.

JUNE 6, 2014.

PRESS RELEASE

CRIME OF THE WEEK

Parker County Sheriff’s Criminal Investigation Division is seeking the public’s assistance in identifying and locating a pair of suspects in connection with a fraud investigation.

Parker County Sheriff Larry Fowler said the men conducted a scheme, convincing an 89-year-old woman to pay them nearly $10,000 for electrical work on her home last week in Azle.

The main suspect identified himself to the victim as “Gregory Long.” Sheriff’s investigators believe Long could be using his real identity.

Long posed as a worker from the victim’s electric company, stating he received a “sensor,” that there was “short” in her wiring. After he entered her attic, Long told the victim squirrels had chewed through her wiring, and it would costs $9,818.40, to repair the damage.  Long was also accompanied by an unidentified 20-year-old male, who posed as Long’s assistant. The suspects did not leave or display a work order, agreement or any form of paper work.

A neighbor of the victim reported seeing the same suspects at her residence prior to arriving at the victim’s home. The neighbor said the suspects told her they were representatives from her electric company, performing work in the area and her electric may shut off briefly while they performed their work.

The suspects stayed at the victim’s residence for about 45 minutes. The victim wrote Long a check but contacted her electric company after Long left the residence. The electric company confirmed there was no such “sensor” or “short” and they did not send a representative to her home.

The victim then contacted the Sheriff’s Office to report the incident. Sheriff’s deputies arrived on scene but were unable to locate any new work or wiring done on the victim’s residence.

The victim stated she contacted her bank in order to cancel the check, but Long had already cashed it.

Sheriff’s investigators discovered that Long used a Missouri driver’s license as identification to cash the check at the bank. Investigators also learned Long is a suspect in other similar investigations.

Long is currently believed to be the suspect of a similar Callahan County Sheriff’s Office fraud case.

Long also goes by the name of Danny and Jackson, but may use other aliases. He is described as being in his 40s, 6-feet tall, weighing about 180 pounds with dark blond or possibly strawberry hair. The suspects were reported to have been driving a white, 4-wheel-drive pickup with chrome equipment.

Sheriff Fowler believes the men have conducted similar schemes in the Metroplex.

“I don’t know what goes through a criminal’s mind as they con unsuspecting people out of thousands of dollars,” Sheriff Fowler said. “We believe someone out there knows who these suspects are and where they are located.”

Fowler cautioned the public against conducting any sort of business with people who approach them or are unsolicited, without proper identification and paperwork.

“Before any work is done in or around your property, residence or yard – contact the company and verify the representatives, insist on receiving a work order in writing on letterhead and demand that the representatives provide proper identification,” Fowler said.

Anyone with information of the identification or location of the suspects is urged to contact the Sheriff’s Office immediately at (817) 594-8845, or the Parker County Crime Stoppers Hotline at (817) 599-5555. You may remain anonymous when calling Crime Stoppers.

Crime Stoppers will pay up to a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest or indictment of the suspects involved.

 LONG, GREGORY

**ANYONE WHO HAS SEEN THIS SUSPECT IS URGED TO CONTACT THE PARKER COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE AT (817) 594-8845, OR PARKER COUNTY CRIME STOPPERS AT (817) 599-5555.