I've been googling "standard wire service format" but am still unclear of how to do this. I'll revise it after consulting with DJ.
Scam Artist Targets Unsuspecting North Portland Shoppers
by Jeff Kennel
Published: Oct. 30th, 2011
Yoga instructor and North Portland resident Mia Kennel knew something strange was going on as she watched a woman leaving and entering the Fred Meyer at 7404 North Interstate Avenue with different people over a 1 hour period. Not content to just watch she decided to do something about it.
"I was waiting in line forever to return an item at Fred Meyer and saw this woman going in and out of the store, each time with a different white person and each time they would be buying different things for her. This didn't seem normal. She looked nervous while she stood in line with them as they bought her groceries and other items. I decided to follow her outside to see what was going on. She would approach different people each time with different stories. From "Could you help me out, I need to buy some groceries for my kids," to "My car ran out of fuel and I need money to buy a gas can and some gas."
Eventually, according to Mia, she would hook someone and they would be pulling out their wallets or taking her into the store to buy her groceries. "She always approached the same type of people- sweet-looking older white people, middle-aged 'hipster' white mothers and young college aged white kids."
Mia was upset and decided to do something about it. Mia approached one of the woman's victim who was helping her buy some groceries and said "Excuse me, this woman is scamming you. I've seen her do this with many other people." The woman became irate according to Mrs. Kennel and denied that she was scamming people. "She then said something strange. She said, 'I'm not going to go buy drugs. I don't do drugs,' which isn't anything I even accused her of."
"The woman stormed off and I thought that was the end of that."
A few days later while taking her dog out for his morning walk she saw a woman knocking on a neighbor's door, a strange thing to be happening at 7:30 in the morning.
"Although it was early, I really didn't think anything of it until I started talking with her. She said she was looking for John, my neighbor. She said they worked together and he wasn't answering his phone or coming to the door. She then told me her car ran out of gas and she needed some gas money. I said sorry, I couldn't help her and she left. About 5 minutes later I realized that it was the same woman from Fred Meyer! Her voice was very distinct."
Later that morning Mia got in touch with John, her neighbor, to see if he knew the woman.
"I helped her out a few days ago," recounted John. "She said she needed a ride to a drug store to buy some medicine for her elderly grandmother. I felt bad for her so I gave her a ride and bought her the medicine. She said she wanted to thank me by taking me out to lunch later in the week, so I gave her my phone number. I see now that she was just ripping me off. She is very good at what she does. Very convincing."
John and Mia decided to contact the police. They had her first name (at least what she had given them) and telephone number. The police said that they couldn't do anything just based on their stories. She would have to commit a crime for them to do anything.
"It's too bad that there is nothing legally we can really do," says Mia. "People like her are out taking advantage of others. Basically stealing from them. If the police won't do anything, I will. I'm going to put up flyers at that Fred Meyer warning people and around my neighborhood. Sooner or later everyone will know about her."
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