Faux FPL workers stole an 81-year-old’s jewelry. Woman who preys on seniors arrested

David J. Neal
·3 min read

Sunday morning, Miramar police announced the arrest Fort Lauderdale’s Rachael Demitro in the case of an 81-year-old distracted by one fake FPL worker while another went in her house and stole $25,000 of jewelry.

Demitro, 49, was easy to find. Since Thursday, she’s been in Broward County’s Paul Rein Detention Facility on charges of larceny of $10,000 to $50,000 from a person 65 or over, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and a violation of probation. And, for what was she on probation?

Hillsborough County convictions on charges of trafficking in stolen property, lying to a pawnbroker about goods worth more than $300 and...theft of $300 to $10,000 from a person 65 or over. She received a sentence of three years on probation on March 30.

The charges from the Miramar case, in which octogenarian Diane Reeves’ said she also lost “sentimental pieces that can never be replaced,” are burglary, larceny of $10,000 to $50,000 from a person 65 or over and violation of probation.

Three arrested in property fraud case after an elderly owner discovers lot sold for $230,000

A Miami-Dade ALF worker slapped a woman with Alzheimer’s and pulled her hair, state says

Video of the conversation setting up the Miramar robbery

The Hillsborough County case happened in 2019. The case for which Demitro got arrested Thursday happened Thursday, according to Broward County court records.

The Miramar burglary happened June 25, but sprang into South Florida media Thursday when Miramar police released surveillance video from Diane Reeves’ front door.

As Reeves talked with a man in an orange cap and black face mask claiming to be from FPL, she obeys good basic security measures. She stays inside her screened in porch and doesn’t open the door to him. When the man says he needs to get to her back yard, she doesn’t let him through the house, but points out how he can get there by going around the house.

The con man does get Reeves out of the house, however, by asking her to meet him in the backyard and got his partner. Police say that’s when the man’s partner, whom they believe to be Demitro, sneaked in the back door and took two drawers from Reeves’ jewelry box. Reeves said they went through five drawers.

Tips for avoiding this kind of burglary:

▪ If you’re not expecting repair work, call the company to verify they sent someone to do the work. And look up the number on your own, don’t ask the worker for it (the worker could give you a fake number, manned by a crony who’ll act like he’s from the company).

▪ If you are expecting any kind of repair work, learn what company’s workers actually are doing the work (sometimes, subcontractors are used) and who they should be sending. Look for company logos on the shirt and/or vehicle.

▪ If you’re not expecting in-home repair work, keep workmen on the outside, as Reeves did.

▪ If you must go outside, take your keys and lock your door behind you.

Our goal is to create a safe and engaging place for users to connect over interests and passions. In order to improve our community experience, we are temporarily suspending article commenting

Recommended Stories

  • Jamal Khashoggi's wife targeted with spyware before his death

    ANKARA, Turkey - NSO Group's Pegasus spyware was used to secretly target the smartphones of the two women closest to murdered Saudi columnist Jamal Khashoggi, according to digital forensic analysis. The Android phone of his wife, Hanan Elatr, was targeted by a Pegasus user six months before his killing, but the analysis could not determine whether the hack was successful. The iPhone of his fiancee, Hatice Cengiz, was penetrated by spyware days after the murder, the forensics showed.Subscribe to

  • 5 pads for 2 cellmates: Period inequity remains a problem in prisons

    Many prisons charge for menstrual products. And access is limited even in facilities where pads and tampons are free.

  • Florida swamped by red tide – but is fertilizer plant spill making it worse?

    Dolphins, manatees and 800 tons of dead fish are piling up on the state’s shorelines in one of the worst algal blooms in years St Petersburg city employees clean up a fish kill from red tide along a waterfront park last week. Photograph: Arielle Bader/AP Piles of dead fish, dolphins, turtles and manatees are rotting on the shorelines of coastal Florida in a soup of reddish brown ocean water after a devastating so-called “red tide” algal bloom struck sea life in the region. The city council in St

  • ‘John Wick’ TV Spinoff Series ‘The Continental’ Finds a Director

    Starz has found its lead director for the upcoming TV spinoff of “John Wick,” “The Continental.” Albert Hughes will now step into the director’s seat on the three-part series, an individual with knowledge of the project told TheWrap. Hughes (“The Book of Eli,” “Menace II Society”) will direct the first and third episodes of “The Continental,” which focuses on the origin of the hotel for assassins from the Keanu Reeves-led film franchise. Starz had initially developed the project as an ongoing se

  • Tom O’Connor, Comedian and Veteran Game Show Host, Dies at 81

    Tom O’Connor, the British comedian and host of game shows like “Crosswits,” “Password” and “Name That Tune,” has died. He was 81. O’Connor’s family told the BBC that the comedian, who had Parkinson’s disease for over a decade, died in a hospital in Buckinghamshire on Sunday. O’Connor began his career in show business on the […]

  • Nearly 850,000 gallons of raw sewage spill into the Catawba River in Charlotte

    It was the largest sewage spill in Charlotte in more than a year.

  • Tributes paid to dad who died in multi-vehicle crash on A1

    Two other people were also killed in the collision in Durham.

  • Costly misconceptions Americans have about Social Security

    Yahoo Finance’s Stephanie Asymkos on common misconceptions Americans have on Social Security, including Medicare.

  • France bans crushing and gassing of male chicks from 2022

    France will ban from next year the killing of male chicks by crushing or gassing, a practice denounced as barbaric by animal welfare groups, and will push for a similar measure at European level, the agriculture minister said on Sunday. Each year, 50 million male chicks are culled in this way, Julien Denormandie said in an interview posted on the website of daily Le Parisien.

  • U.S. surgeon general defends CDC mask change, blames tech companies for COVID deaths

    U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy stood by federal guidance that those fully vaccinated against COVID-19 no longer needed to wear masks, while blaming social media companies for fueling vaccine misinformation. Murthy told CNN's "State of the Union" that allowing vaccinated individuals to forgo masks also gives communities the flexibility to revert to mask mandates based on new infections and vaccination rates, as Los Angeles https://www.reuters.com/world/us/mask-mandate-returns-los-angeles-coronavirus-cases-rise-2021-07-15 has done. Murthy said that social media companies have fueled false narratives about the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines, echoing President Joe Biden's comments that social media companies were "killing people."

  • Manufactured controversy about Critical Race Theory is aimed at teachers like me

    Stoking outrage over CRT puts NC teachers under siege. We already face a challenging enough year ahead. (Letters to the Editor)

  • Oklahoma Sooners-Oregon Ducks among most controversial games listing

    The Oklahoma Sooners and Oregon Ducks matchup in 2006 is still viewed as one of the most controversial in history.

  • 2 killed in shooting at NW Harris Co. business barbecue

    A crowd of around 30 people had gathered outside a business for a party when the fight broke out and gunfire erupted, deputies said.

  • Cold case murder of East Texas woman from 2007 gets a fresh look by new sheriff

    19-year-old Brittany was brutally murdered while she slept at her boyfriend’s house in Winnsboro, Texas on May 4, 2007.

  • Kansas City man sentenced in 2018 fatal stabbing of mother of 4

    He told police at the time that he stabbed the mother of four multiple times, including in the head, face, neck, chest, stomach, because “she had to die.”

  • Spotlight beckons Caeleb Dressel, swimming's reluctant star

    For a man tabbed as swimming’s next superstar, Caeleb Dressel couldn’t be more disinterested. Dressel could win as many as seven medals in Tokyo. Michael Phelps won a historic eight golds in Beijing in 2008.

  • Two major factors may explain why European flooding turned so deadly so fast

    The torrential rain has been called a “1 in 100-year event,” said Kathryn Prociv, a meteorologist for NBC News.

  • Anti-government protesters clash with Thai police

    Thai police fired water cannon, tear gas and rubber bullets on Sunday (July 18) to stop more than 1,000 people marching on the office of the prime minister.These anti-government protesters are calling for Prayuth Chan-ocha to resign.They accuse him and his government of mismanaging the COVID-19 pandemic.The demonstration also comes after the Thai government tightened restrictions.On Friday (July 16) it imposed a nationwide ban on public gatherings of more than five people.The maximum penalties are two years in prison, a 40,000 baht fine or both.Protester Ittinan says he's aware of the risks."I understand that the situation is not getting any better but we have to come out and show them that we are not happy about the measures imposed by the government. It's like they only wanted everything to stop at a standstill but they were not trying to fix anything. Yes, I know that we are risking getting infected, that's why I try to protect myself by wearing gloves and a gas mask so that I would be at low risk."Police used force after some protesters tried to dismantle barbed wire and metal barricades leading to Government House, where the prime minister works.The protest marked one year since the first of a wave of large-scale street demonstrations, led by youth groups, that attracted hundreds of thousands of people across the country.Thailand reported 11,397 infections and 101 deaths on Sunday - bringing its cumulative total to more than 403,000 cases and 3,341 fatalities.The vast majority of them are from an outbreak since early April which is fuelled by the highly transmissable Alpha and Delta variants.

  • Meet Hunter Echo, the TikToker who suggested that he 'groomed' actress Millie Bobby Brown

    Hunter Echo, a social media star whose TikTok and Instagram accounts recently disappeared, suggested he had a relationship with Millie Bobby Brown.

  • U.S. senators drop tax enforcement from bipartisan infrastructure bill -Portman

    U.S. lawmakers trying to salvage a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill have dropped a provision to beef up tax enforcement, Republican Senator Rob Portman said on Sunday, setting aside a significant revenue-raising measure. The provision, aimed at increasing Internal Revenue Service (IRS) collections, will instead likely be added to a separate budget "reconciliation" bill being pushed by Democrats as a vehicle for passing trillions of dollars more in spending and tax increases, Portman said on CNN's State of the Union program. President Joe Biden has said he wants to invest $80 billion in IRS technology and enforcement to increase collections of taxes by $700 billion over 10 years.