The Pinellas Realtor Organization is warning agents in St. Petersburg to be on the lookout for crooks disguised as home buyers. On Thursday St. Petersburg Police released security cam video and a composite image of one of the suspects.
Wednesday, a man robbed an agent at a home in the 1700 block of Oxford St. N. He tied her up and demanded a ransom from the woman’s husband.
Within an hour, police said that same man robbed a realtor who was showing him a home is 5800 12th. St. N. Police shared a security camera video of the suspect and the vehicle from the Oxford Street robbery.
Shortly after the first robbery, the agent called the Pinellas Realtor Organization and informed them what happened. The organization immediately sent an email to all of its agents letting them know what happened.
“We had an agent calling us from the crime scene and she was reporting to us all the facts, the car, what he looked like. So we immediately pulled together an email and pushed it out to our members and put it on their MLS screens.. something a tool they use all the time,” David Bennett, the President and CEO of the organization said.
Also, the organization is developing a text message system to make sure people are informed as quickly as possible.
“It’s pretty scary. When I spoke to the agent on the phone, she was directly calling from the crime scene. She was very very shaken,” Bennett said.
The suspect is described as a white man in his 40’s. He’s about 5’5″ to 5’8″ tall. He was wearing a straw hat and a goatee and talks with a Northeast accent.
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