Possible Fake Painter Burglary Scam in Clinton Hill

jimulacrum

Hi. This is my first time posting, though I've been checking up on this board for a couple months now.

I recently had a brief run-in with a man outside my apartment building on St. James Place. We've had trouble with the front door for some time, as it doesn't shut firmly if left to close on its own. On my way out about a week and a half ago, while I was pulling the door shut, a man approached me and asked me to let him in. He claimed to be a painter who had come to do some work in the front hallway. He was between 5'8" and 5'10", I think. He was dark-skinned and had a mustache, and he could've used some dental work. Pakistani comes to mind, but I'm not sure, and he didn't speak with any apparent accent that would tell me one way or the other. I didn't see anyone else, but I think there was someone sitting in the van.

There was a nondescript white bucket full of paintbrushes on the stoop in front of the door, and an unmarked black van idling on the street in front of the building. I asked the man if he'd spoken to the super yet, and he said he hadn't. I told him that the super lives in the basement apartment, and that he'd need to talk to him in order to come in and do any work. I did this partly out of deference to the super, but mostly because I don't let people in my building if I don't know them.

I continued my walk out to a nearby bodega, and when I got there, I realized that I should call the super and let him know what was going on. When I spoke to him, he said that he knew nothing about any painting being done and that he would go check it out. (He's got a slight disability, so this wouldn't have been fully immediate.)

I went into the bodega, got my coffee and smokes, and headed back. I was gone for a total of maybe 15 minutes. When I got to the building, the van was gone, and there was no one inside painting or doing any other kind of work. I've walked through the hallway in question several times since then (obviously, since I live there), but no painting appears to have been done. I haven't spoken to the super about it, but I suspect that the van took off as soon as I was out of sight. If I remember correctly, this happened in the middle of the workday (early afternoon) when I was home sick from work.

The whole thing was kinda fishy, even before the guy took off. I mean, the bucket was full of brushes, but the hallway would require the use of a roller to be painted properly. And I didn't see any paint, just brushes in a bucket. On top of that, what kind of painter shows up at a building to do work without a key and without any information about the super or how to get in the building? It's silly to think that a real painter would stand outside indefinitely in the middle of the workday waiting for someone to let him inside.

Has anyone else noticed this kind of thing in the area? I'd love to be able to get a license plate number, name, or something if this van shows up again. When I came back to notice that the van was missing, I was almost positive that it was a burglar doing the "workman who needs to get in" routine. (I didn't see the van anywhere on the block, so this slims down the chance of it being a wrong-address situation.) If more people can confirm that this van is part of a criminal operation, maybe we can get the police to shut it down.

boygabriel

Weird. Thanks for sharing. Definitely sounds fishy.

dekalb county

I have noticed a couple of events like this over the past two or three years. In one case, a young man was outside on the block for several hours on a weekday morning. While talking on a cell phone, he watched houses as people were leaving for the day. After a while I approached him and asked if I could help him with anything. He said no, he was waiting for something. Almost immediately a van appeared and he got in and left.

Another time, I watched a van on the corner with the back doors wide open as several people scurried towards it from different directions, each carrying a full, large contractor's garbage bag. All of the people loaded into the van with their bags and it took off. Although the van was full of circulars, the bags didn't appear to be.

Not long afterward, we saw a man lingering in front of our house talking into a cell phone as we entered the house. When my daughter got to the top floor, she found there had been a breakin, but no robbery. We suspected the man in front had warned a person inside via cellphone, telling him to get out. We told the detectives from the 88th about this and elaborated about my earlier van observations. I later got a call back from a detective who said he was working on something involving a van and he asked a few questions.

And finally, a year or so ago, a man was arrested in Long Island for hiring illegal day laborers, taking them into neighborhoods with a van and sending them - with cellphones - out to various addresses to burglarize. He had the laborers over a barrel - they HAD to participate in the robbery because as illegals, they couldn't refuse or go to the police. This guy was put away for grand larceny. I read about it in the paper, but I forget further details.

So it seems you're right to be suspicious. I - on the other hand - might be guilty of paranoia ; )