HOUSTON – Burglars posing as fire marshals have targeted another elderly homeowner – but this one ran them off with a hatchet.
Mary Ann Wooten, 84, said she was working on her flower bed Saturday afternoon at her northwest Houston home when a man claiming to be a utility worker approached her and her husband.
"He took us behind the garage here and took us to the back (of the yard)," she said.
The man told her that he needed to install some electrical wires. That was enough to distract her while three other men sneaked into her home.
"His pen wouldn’t write," she remembered. "So when he disappeared around the corner, I went in the house and I wasn’t supposed to do that, to get a pen. When I did, I heard all the commotion in the house."
When she confronted the men, they said they were with the fire marshal’s office. But where most people would have panicked, this grandmother pulled out a hatchet.
"I said you all all don’t need to be in here," she said, waving the small garden hatchet around. "You’ve done a lot of damage. Get yourself out of here now! I should’ve told them, ‘I hope they burn in hell.’"
The thieves took off with some cash and jewelry.
She’s not the only victim in recent weeks. Last Wednesday, someone posing as a fire marshal stole from another man in northeast Harris County. On November 8, another man pulled a similar stunt. And in the past few days, there have been reports of phony utility workers surprising homeowners in the Memorial Villages and League City.
An 81-year-old woman on Swinbrook died of a heart attack after chasing off fake utility workers who were trying to rob her.
"We hear of people impersonating police officers a lot," said Lt. Dean Hensley with the Harris County Fire Marshal’s Office. "It’s not real common to hear people saying they’re fire marshal impersonators. We’re not sure exactly why that’s happening. People are trying something different now."
Hensley said real fire marshals will always carry valid identification, and he urged any residents who might be suspicious to call 911.
