HOUSTON – Police need help identifying and finding a man suspected of posing as a utility worker to steal from homes, and one of the homeowners died from a heart attack caused by the crime.
Houston police said the man has been linked to a burglary in the 7300 block of Gracia in north Houston on Dec. 20 and a burglary in the 5300 block of Hialeah in northwest Houston on Jan. 31.
Detectives said the man knocked on the door on Gracia Street about 4 p.m. and identified himself as being with CenterPoint Energy. He said he needed to meet with the homeowner, Teofil Klodzinski, to show him where his electrical lines were going to be re-routed and buried.
Klodzinski and his wife, both in their late 80s, went outside with the man. The man told the couple about the work that he claimed would be done and asked them to stay outside while he retrieved a part from his truck, but he never returned, police said.
The homeowners went inside and discovered that several items, including jewelry, had been stolen.
Klodzinski suffered a fatal heart attack after becoming upset about the crime, investigators said.
Police said the same man knocked on the door on the home on Hialeah about 3:30 p.m., and he told the elderly woman who answered the door that he worked for the electric company. He also told that woman that he needed to show here where lines were going to be rerouted in her back yard, investigators said.
Detectives said the woman locked her door and followed the man to her back yard. He led the woman to a far corner and explained the same information repeatedly, officials said. He told the woman he needed to get flags from his truck to mark her yard, but after 15 minutes, the man still had not returned, police said.
The woman went into her home and found jewelry and other items were missing, police said. The thief left through the front door that she had locked, detectives said.
Investigators said the man was likely working with one or two other people because entry to the home was made through the back door while the woman was distracted.
"She left her back door open and was standing with her back toward the door, toward the house," Officer Edith Maldonado said. "He kept her in a corner next to a shed, distracting her."
The man was described as white, in his late 20s to early 30s and about 5 feet 9 inches tall with medium brown hair and a silver ball piercing underneath his lip. He has been seen wearing a plaid shirt or jacket and glasses.
Anyone with information is asked to call the HPD Burglary and Theft Division at 713-308-0900 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.