Richland Hills Police Department officials said they need help finding a group of people who claimed to be Oncor employees in order to rob homes.
The resident of a home in the 6800 block of Hovenkamp Avenue said a man came to his door between 2 and 3 p.m. Dec. 27 and claimed he was an Oncor employee sent to repair a power outage in the neighborhood. Police said the man told the resident he needed to go into the house and check the breaker box. Once inside, the man asked the resident to turn a switch on and off while he checked the home for an electrical short.
The man then told the resident he found the problem and would put in a request to fix it, authorities said. After he left, the resident told police that some property — including a credit card — was missing.
The victim described the man as white, about 50 years old and nearly 6 feet tall with brown hair and blue eyes, police said. The resident said he was driving an older, gree, single-cab pickup truck — possibly a Mazda.
Police said they tracked purchases made with the victim's credit card and obtained photos of a woman with long, dark hair. Surveillance video showed the woman leave the store in a green, single-cab truck.
North Richland Hills Police Department officials said they received two similar reports of people claiming to be with Oncor and trying to gain access to homes. One involved a dark, four-door vehicle and the other involved a younger man claiming to be with Oncor.
Officials said they verified that Oncor equipment is located outside of homes and that employees are not supposed to enter residences.
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Authorities asked that anyone with information about these incidents contact Investigator J. Carrion at 817-616-3788 or jcarrion@richlandhills.com or Crime Stoppers at 817-469-8477 or www.469tips.com.
