Elderly Man Lured Out of Home and Burglarized, Police Say

An elderly man who lives on Trexler Boulevard had his home burglarized when a woman claiming to be doing landscaping next door lured him outside to ask him some questions, South Whitehall Township police said.

Several hundred dollars were apparently stolen by an accomplice who snuck in through the home’s front door while the woman—described as a blond wearing a gray sweatshirt—talked to the man in his back yard, police said.

The victim, who is in his 70s, told police that the woman asked him to show her which of his neighbor’s trees were infringing on his property, said Township Police Chief Thomas J. Toth.

While she talked to the victim, she was also talking to someone on a cell phone in a “foreign language,” Toth said.

The incident took place early Saturday afternoon on the 3700 block of Trexler Boulevard.

Toth urged residents to be on the lookout for scams like this one and to report suspicious activity to the police.