Date: June 4, 2012
http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_20798438/charges-st-paul-man-disguised-city-worker-tried
Beware of the unsolicited visitor in uniform, especially the ones asking for access to your home.
Wearing a hard hat and a construction vest, a man wanted for attempted murder knocked on a door in Coon Rapids this week and told the woman who answered he was there to check her home's water system, authorities say.
Once inside, 34-year-old Robert Sirron Owens instead reportedly pointed a handgun covered with a sock at the woman while another man he arrived with went upstairs, according to complaints filed Wednesday, June 6 in Anoka County court.
At the time of this invasion, Owens had an outstanding warrant for a murder of an acquaintance two years earlier. It's not clear how Owens and his two accomplices were apprehended.
Which brings us to...
...A Safety Tip
A lot of people think that attackers dressed up in official looking uniforms are just an urban myth. They are rare but, obviously, not unheard of.
If you have no reason to expect someone, then use a healthy dose of skepticism when dealing with them. Keep them outside. Verify independently that they are there for the offered reason. Don't use a business card or phone number that they they provide to verify. Let them wait outside with your door locked, look up the company phone number yourself and call for confirmation.
Sure it make take a few minutes longer than if you just blindly trust them. And you might feel embarrassed about asking the visitor to wait. But most professionals will be understanding.
