Sheriff's Office seeking suspects posing as FEMA, utility workers to burgle homes

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The Clarendon County Sheriff’s Office is currently searching for two suspects who have allegedly committed burglaries while posing as workers with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Sheriff Tim Baxley said two white males driving a small white truck with green stripes on the doors went to two homes on March 30, using the deception to commit the alleged thefts. “At the first home on Burgess Road, in Williamsburg County, the subjects posed as FEMA workers saying they were assessing damage due to Hurricane Matthew,” he said. One of the suspects allegedly distracted the victim as the other entered the home surreptitiously and took several items, including a pocketbook. A similar incident with the same subjects in the same vehicle then occurred on Sassafras Road in Clarendon County, Baxley said, with a different alleged deception. “At this home, the suspects deceived the victim by advising they were from the satellite company,” said Baxley. “One subject again distracted the victim, while the other performed a larceny.” Reports from the Clarendon County Sheriff’s Office show that in the second incident, the suspects allegedly told the victims they were representatives for a communications company promoting cable or satellite TV services. While one of the suspects spoke with a male victim about such services, the other entered a bedroom in the home, looked in all the closets and allegedly took a Ziploc bag of medication for the man’s wife. According to those same reports, the man’s wife remains in bed due to health issues and witnessed the second suspect going through her closet and her belongings, and was unable to alert her husband at that time. Victims in the cases were both elderly couples, and Baxley said both incidents were between 3 and 4 p.m. March 30.  Baxley described one suspect as a white male standing 5-foot-7 with a small build and sandy brown hair. He said the other is a white male standing about 5-foot-7 with white stubble on his face. “The Clarendon County Sheriff’s Office is asking the public’s help in locating these suspects,” said Baxley. Anyone with information regarding their identities is asked to call the Clarendon County Sheriff’s Office at (803) 435-4414. Callers may remain anonymous.