February 20, 2016
Philadelphia police are investigating after a group of general contractors allegedly used a child to distract a Northeast Philadelphia client and gain access to an open safe containing $90,000.
According to authorities, the incident occurred Saturday at the victim's home on Normandy Drive, 6 ABC reports.
The victim's son-in-law, John Kilbride, told police that his elderly father-in-law had hired the contractors to complete paving work on his driveway a few weeks ago. On Saturday, the men returned in a familiar red pick-up truck with a young child under their care.
The victim, recognizing the contractors, struck up a conversation until they asked for permission to used his bathroom. At that point, the contractors allegedly left the young child with the victim as a "decoy" and went straight for the unlocked safe to steal the money and flee the scene.
Philadelphia Police Lieutenant Dennis Rosenbaum, referring to the incident as a "distraction robbery," said scams of this nature are not uncommon and suspects posing as workers will often use kids to disarm their victims.
Authorities said that the suspects also broke into the victim's car at one point, while neighbors who saw the red pickup truck assumed it was there for legitimate work purposes. Kilbride said he was concerned because his father-in-law will be left at the property and he wondered how the suspects could possibly sleep at night in good conscience.
Anyone with information on the robbery is asked to contact the Northeast Detective Division at 215-686-3150.
