‘Smooth criminal’ swindles Queensburgh charity shop volunteer of her wedding rings
The man, who said his name was 'Marcelle', claimed to be from a religious organisation which he named to the unsuspecting volunteer.
A QUEENSBURGH woman is anything but okay after losing her treasured wedding rings to a man posing as a customer and benefactor of the charity store she works at as a volunteer earlier this month.
“He said he wanted to buy all the clothing we had in the jumble sale, so I told him he would have to wait until we closed because the public were still buying items,” said Florence Currin.
The man who gave his name as ‘Marcelle’, said he was from a religious organisation which he named to the unsuspecting volunteer, according to Currin and Lyn Ramsey-Boyd, the assistant manager at Queensburgh Cheshire Homes.
“He came to me where I was sorting jewellery for the Christmas sale on Saturday and picked up a bit of a broken chain and said he could tell it was 18 carat gold,” said Ramsey-Boyd.
“He said, if we can add some extra bits of gold to it to get it to a gramme he will pay R2000 for it,” she said.
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Ramsey-Boyd said she felt that the price was too high, and had even gone to check with the manager who knows more about gold prices, having worked in the jewellery industry for some time.
She described how the man convinced her to put her own ring into a bottle of fluid which would ‘test’ the gold.
“He said he needed to put something nine carat and something 18 carat in, so we also put in the chain which I wear around my neck,” she explained.
Ramsey-Boyd said she became impatient and demanded her jewellery back after the 10 minutes had passed.
“He gave them back to me and looked at the other piece of chain he had been testing and declared that it was 18 carat,” she said.
“After that he went off to other stalls and worked his way around the whole sales area,” she said.
Currin said after he had been all around the stalls he came to where she was running the second-hand clothing sale area.
“That was when he said he wanted to buy all the clothes and we decided on a price of R2000,” she said.
“He asked about the money made from the sale and asked if I got any of it,” she laughed.
“I explained to him that I am just a volunteer and this is a charity which raises money to feed 20 disabled people who live here,” she said.
After hearing about the people needing food Currin said the man rushed out and returned with 10 loaves of bread.
“Now I realise it was all part of his plan to make us see him as someone we can trust,” she said sadly.
Currin said the man then did the same thing he had done with Ramsey-Boyd.
“He told me he wanted to test a coin he had picked up among the clothes because he said it was very valuable and if he could test it he would buy it from us for over R2000,” she said.
Like before, he asked if she could put her own jewellery into the bottle to be tested alongside the coin.
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“I put my wedding and engagement rings into the bottle,” said Currin.
“I then kept my eyes on that bottle all the time, but he must have switched the bottles because after he left saying he was going to get the money to buy the coin he didn’t come back.
“I said my rings are still in that bottle and then the man who runs the home said we should check the bottle and there was only a new two Rand coin in the bottle!”
“He was medium build and not very tall, about five foot five,” said Currin.
“He was dressed in jeans and wore a zipped up tracksuit top, like a hoody, but without a hood. I would definitely recognise him if I saw him again,” she said.
Detective Sgt Protas Sibiya of Malvern SAPS visited the Queensburgh Cheshire Home on Wednesday to interview the women and said he will be investigating the case and hoped to find out something from him informer network.
Anyone with information about the man, or with a similar story to report can contact Malvern SAPS on 031 489 9630 or Crime Stop on 08600 1011.
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