JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office is concerned about a pattern of burglaries on the Westside.
A least three homes last month were burglarized by a man claiming he was a tree surgeon.
Victims walked around their property with the scam artist while a co-conspirator broke inside the homes to steal jewelry.
Victims tell police they were talking about a tree-trimming service with the man they say was clean cut and wearing a shirt with an emblem that made him believable.
Horace Leprell told Action News, "I can't remember what it said. I really didn't pay much attention to it to tell you the truth because it really did seem legal."
But the suspect's accomplice simultaneously ripping off $17,000 of Leprell's wife's jewels certainly wasn't.
"We were probably in the back for four or five minutes, said Leprell. "He went back, got in his car and shot off."
Police believe these two crimes last week and another earlier last month are the work of the same scam artists led by a man they describe as Hispanic, in his mid -20s to mid-30s, 5'4" to 5'8," between 130 and 165 pounds and driving a white or gray SUV.
