A local couple engaged to be married have been in jail since Thursday after police say they conned their way into an elderly couple’s home in Garden City and stole cash, electronics and jewelry — including a wedding ring.
Jeffrey Alan Anderson Jr., 32, and Alexis Skye Burke, 24, have been charged with felony counts of burglary, theft by taking and threatening/intimidating disabled adults.
Anderson and Burke knocked on the door of an elderly couple’s Azalea Avenue home June 23 and offered unsolicited contract work on their pool, said Garden City Police Sgt. Lindsey Talley, the detective who led the investigation. They talked the elderly couple — a 74-year-old woman and a 78-year-old man — into trusting them and were invited inside the home, Talley said.
They stayed for at least an hour and took various items out to their car, Talley said.
“They even sat there and had a beer with the victims,” Talley said.
Stolen items included an ID, a debit card, cash, a laptop and jewelry described as sentimental. Before leaving, the couple told the victims they’d be in touch later in the week about fixing their pool and Anderson left a fake name.
Talley worked the case for a few weeks, checking pawn records and following other leads. She discovered Burke used the stolen debit card online and was able to trace it and also found a wedding ring stolen from the elderly couple had been sold to a gold buyer. Another ring that was stolen had been damaged to make it unrecognizable.
Police are still trying to track down pieces of the stolen property, but they’ve been able to return some of it to the victims.
Burke was also charged with felony card theft and fraud, and Anderson was also charged with parole violation. Neither was granted bond, and they’re due in court Wednesday.
“We take elder abuse very, very seriously here,” said Garden City Police Chief David Lyons. “This is primarily a financial crime, but it’s still elder abuse.”