Men Pose as Housecleaners to Steal Jewelry in Support of Pain Killer Addiction
It can be dangerous to hire someone you don’t know to work inside your home. This was evidenced by a recent piece in the CBS 4 News which focused on two men who robbed clients of their jewelry while posing as offering a housecleaning service.
When Stephen Knapp and Richard Lewis were investigated and arrested by police, it was discovered the men had $25,000 worth of gold jewelry in their possession that had belonged to housecleaning clients.
The two men thought they had discovered a crime bonanza with their housecleaning farce, established to support their addiction to pain killers. The pair of supposed housecleaners was using about $600 worth of Oxycodone per day.
Knapp and Lewis would get their business through referrals and would gain access to homes and then clean out the closets. Unsuspecting clients didn’t even know they were being robbed.
One couple had no idea they were victims of a crime, until police called them. Edmund and Shirley Jordain had heard about the cleaning service from a friend and hired Knapp and Lewis for $75. After spending three hours in the house, the two men sat down with the Jordains to share cake and ice cream.
"We trusted them. I was shaking. I shook for hours," Shirley said in the CBS4 report. "It was just frightening. Why would they do that? We thought they were nice people."
The crime spree was uncovered when the BSO Oakland Park Det. Brian Rupp was tipped off by a pawn shop owner where Lewis and Knapp were pawning the stolen jewelry.