Crime & Safety
Police Offer Details in Alleged Prayer Scam
The victim from Glendora was approached at a store in Monrovia and tricked into even driving the suspects to his bank there to get them more money, according to Glendora Police.
Two men allegedly duped a Glendora man into giving them thousands of dollars after approaching him at a Monrovia store Wednesday afternoon.
According to Glendora Police, the two men used a where the victim is tricked into providing a sum of money, all parties then pray over it and the cash is somehow switched with the victim not knowing. The amount of money stolen was not disclosed, but was reportedly in the low thousands, said Lieutenant Joe Ward.
The incident began around noon at a store in Monrovia. The 72-year-old victim was approached by one suspect who claimed to be from South Africa. The man told the victim his brother died in a plane crash during 9/11 and recieved several hundred thousand dollars in insurance money, Ward said. The suspect reportedly showed the victim wads of cash.
Saying he was unable to take the money back to his home country, he claimed he wanted to donate it, police added.
"As that was going on, suspect No. 2 comes over and pretends not to know [suspect] No. 1 and starts agreeing that it was a good idea," Ward said.
The suspects then convinced the victim to donate as well. The victim drove the suspects to a Monrovia bank where he withdrew thousands of his own money. All three end up at a Glendora gas station, on Route 66 and Glendora Avenues, near Taco Bell, where the man said he would go to his house to retrieve more cash, Ward said.
All three eventually put the money in some sort of cloth, or rag and prayed over the cash. The suspects eventually left on foot. After the victim left to donate the money, he opened the cloth and saw nothing but old newspapers inside, Ward said.
One suspect is described as black man, 45 to 50 years old. He was wearing a tan suit and tie and had short black hair. The second suspect was described as a black man, 50 to 55 years old. He wore a blue shirt, gray pants, wore glasses and had short, gray hair. He also wore a baseball hat with the phrase "go to Hell" written on it, Ward said.
Anyone with information is asked to call Glendora Police at (626) 914-8250.
