Scam Artists Steal Money From Elderly Woman

A 94-year old Loxley woman says she was the victim of scam artists posing as contractors. Estelle Hayes tells News 5 three people forced their way inside her home hoping she'd buy linoleum flooring.

"I told them my children don't want a stranger in my house and I don't either and I wished you'd go back out. He said, no, we've got something else to show you."

Hayes says while two of the men rolled out the flooring sample to distract her, another sneaked into her bedroom, found her purse and stole more than a thousand dollars.

"My bedroom is right around there and that cut me off from seeing the one that went into my bedroom so I sat down over there in that chair and I was nervous, Pat, I really was nervous."

Hayes told police the men were driving either a Mercury Grand Marquis or a Ford Crown Victoria. Surveillance video from a nearby gas station captured a similar car just moments after the break-in.

"It's one of the worst things you could do in the public," says Lt. Doug Phillips with the Loxley Police Dept. "This lady is not helpless but she's an easy target."