SAN MARINO NEWS
By Mitch Lehman

The ‘lost cat’ scam gave way to the ‘tree-trimming’ trick, and more recently, a San Marino resident fell victim to a a roofing ruse.
On Friday April 11, 2008, a male and a female subject approached an elderly female resident as she parked her vehicle in the garage. The male subject, described as possibly caucasian or hispanic, 40-45 years of age and medium build, asked the resident, ‘Do you remember me?’
The resident told the male subject that she did not recognize him. The male subject told the resident his name was Paul Thompson and that he had done some repair work on the roof of her house several years ago. The resident told the man she did not remember him but the man persisted and eventually persuaded the resident to allow him to do some repairs to her roof.
The subject asked the resident to go inside her house with the female subject, who he said was Linda Thompson – his daughter – and he would call her when he was done.
Approximately twenty minutes later, the man called the resident out to take a look at the roof. The resident said the roof did look better. The man then told the resident to go back inside the house because he still needed to work on the other side of the roof and he did not want her to inhale the chemicals he was using.
Twenty minutes later, the man contacted the resident and told her he was finished. He told the resident that she owed him $5,600 but he would accept $5,000 if she paid him in cash. The resident told the man she thought the price was steep but decided to pay the man because she felt intimidated by the two subjects.
The man told the resident to make the check payable to ‘Linda Thompson.’ While the resident was speaking to the man, ‘Linda Thompson’ went to the bank and successfully cashed the check.
After the man left, the resident, feeling something “was not right,” called a legitimate roofing company and had them come out to inspect her roof.
The roofing contractor told the resident that it did not appear as if any work had been done to the roof and that it looked like the man had only watered down the roof using the resident’s water hose.
The San Marino Police Dept. is asking any residents who might have information on the matter to please call (626) 300-0720 and ask for Sgt. Cervantes