A Prince George’s County man faces charges of first-degree murder and first-degree burglary in a crime that is becoming increasingly common, according to security experts: criminals disguising themselves as utility workers to rob people’s homes, sometimes after an unsuspecting resident invites them inside.
Clinton resident John Haston and Craig Brooks, who dressed up as a Pepco worker, bound the feet and hands of David Williams and then shot him in the chest, fleeing with Williams’ and fiancee Scquana Majors’ belongings, Prince George’s County prosecutors said Tuesday.
Majors told prosecutors she thought there was something odd about Brooks, the man in a Pepco uniform whom Williams let into their home in July 2011 to inspect some wiring in the basement of their Bowie home.
The next day, Brooks returned with Haston, prosecutors said.
Getting in a home is an easy enough task for a burglar who can get his hands on the right disguise and remain calm and cool while talking his way in the front door with a fake story — checking the wiring, examining a cable bill, or inspecting a leak, according to Chris McGoey, a California crime expert, who says these crimes are on the rise nationally.
“It’s the home version of a carjacking,” McGoey said. “Instead of going to a parking lot and trying to pick a lock, you can walk in the front door and literally tie up the victims and leave them and they’re unable to report the crime.”
Fake Comcast employees were reported breaking into a home on Harvard Street in Northwest D.C. earlier this month. Columbia Heights was hit by a series of reports of Pepco impostors requesting account information from residents in February, with the fake utility worker arriving unannounced asking to enter people’s homes.
The robberies can have deadly consequences, as was the case for Williams.
Brooks pleaded guilty to first-degree assault in April.
Officials from Pepco and Comcast say all residents should take precautions to verify that a person is really a utility worker. Both companies require their employees to have company identification cards.
