CBS2 Exclusive: Elderly Victim In Brazen Robbery Speaks Out
CLIFTON, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- An elderly man with health problems who was sitting outside his house thought a woman who stopped in a car claimed she needed help with directions.
Within seconds he was the victim of a heartless robbery, and that wasn't the end of it.
As CBS2's Scott Rapoport, the suspects abused the most innocent among us.
"My reaction was, I got mad," 83-year-old Eleuterio Ortega said.
Ortega, a diabetic with heart issues who has difficulty walking, was sitting with his walker outside his home on Center Street in Clifton, New Jersey Sunday afternoon when he says he was ripped off in broad daylight.
His neighbors were appalled at the brazen crime.
"I mean, how dare you? He can't even defend himself," Clifton resident Nancy Moers said. "He's in a wheelchair. How could you do that? It's heartless."
Ortega says a woman pulled up in a car driven by another man and asked him for directions. He says when he approached the vehicle with his walker and leaned in the woman snatched the gold chain he was wearing right off of his neck.
He says the thieves bolted, speeding away with his precious necklace.
"I like that chain," Ortega said. "I paid $6,000 for that chain."
The heartless heist was disturbing enough on its own, but it gets even worse. Police and Ortega says also in the car with the thief and the getaway driver were two young children in the back seat during the robbery.
"Stupid," Ortega said. "Very stupid to do things like that in front of the kids."
"You don't do things like that in front of children in the first place," Clifton resident Beverly Rold said. "You don't do bad things to old people."
Police describe the female suspect as Hispanic, between 23 and 27-years-old. The driver is a Hispanic male in his 30's.
Ortega tells CBS2 he would recognize the suspects if he saw them.
"If I see the guy, maybe I'll bite him," he said.
An elderly victim and a gentleman with a walker, determined to stand his ground next time.
