ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – A thief probably thought he found an easy target when he knocked on the door of a home and saw a woman using a walker and an oxygen tank.
But a woman is fighting back to make sure the thief doesn’t get away with it. She was ready with surveillance cameras that got a good view of the guy going in and out of her home.
Now, Albuquerque police need the public’s help to identify the thief.
Susan Johnson was on the computer at her home in the Heights two weeks ago when a man approached, even peeking in the window before seeing her inside.
Johnson uses a walker to get around, with a tube trailing behind her connected to an oxygen tank to help her breathe as she battles pulmonary fibrosis, a lung disease.
“He asked if he could clean my yard for me. That was the day all the leaves were falling,” Johnson said.
She declined, and he asked for a glass of water instead, which she agreed to get.
“I had to back up a little bit because he was a little pushy to step inside the door,” Johnson said.
While she grabbed water, he was up to no good.
She said he was inside her home for no more than ten minutes. He went into her office to get her purse and grabbed her iPad on the way out.
“If somebody gets their hands on your credit card, unfortunately they’ll be out right away using it,” said Albuquerque Police Officer Simon Drobik. “So within minutes, he was already using the credit card, racking hundreds of dollars of purchases.”
Police said the man and a woman charged more than $800, shopping at Burlington Coat Factory and Famous Footwear.
“We need to identify this guy because this is not the first time this guy’s probably done this,” Ofc. Drobik said.
Johnson’s been busy canceling credit cards.
“Been dealing with that ever since. It’s become full on attempt at identity theft,” she said.
Johnson said the thieves even got to her bank account online, attaching it to a new email.
“Hugely frustrating, hugely frustrating,” she said.
Johnson said the suspect was driving a red, two-door sports car with a sunroof although she didn’t know the make or model.
Police said the woman’s iPad is an older model, so its location cannot be tracked, like in other cases.