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In what Lt. Richard Cochran refers to as a suspected "chimney scam," four arrests were made on Monday. Scammers prey on the elderly and offer chimney cleaning work for a low price, then spike up the costs for other work that supposedly needs to be done, said Cochran. Unfortunately, this is a trend.
Police said the victim in the scam, a 79-year-old woman who lives on Wellington Avenue, was approached by the suspects and offered to clean her chimney for $150. Later, the suspects demanded $1,900 because they said the chimney needed a new liner.
According to police, the four suspects, who were all employees of A-Z Services, did not secure the needed town work permits for chimney cleaning. The suspects said the company was performing the work to install a new liner for the chimney shoot. The town of Greenwich building inspector later said that no new liner was placed at the residence.
Those arrested were Dania J. Cruz, 40; Santos Cruz, 45; Hector Vaquis, 33; and Dania Olivia, 21. All the suspects live at 9 McWhorter St. in Brentwood, N.Y. Vaquis, the Cruz's and Olivia were arrested for exploitation of the elderly, criminal attempt at larceny in the 2nd degree among other minor offenses.
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