Just a heads up: Today a guy knocked on my door claiming that he has locked himself out of a house and that he already payed the locksmith $41 but needed $4 more. He identified himself as “a gay black man” and said he would pay the money back. I think he said his name was Patrick. I said I would give the money to the locksmith, since the house that he said he was locked out of was only a few 100 yards away. He was disappointed and left. I’m pretty sure this is the same guy who has been circulating through the CD for a while now. An African American man with a scar on the side of his face, in his late 40s-early 50s and “gay,” which he kept reminding me about. He was wheeling a blue 10-speed. I am at 20th and E Pine.
See also: http://www.centraldistrictnews.com/2009/02/16/stranger-at-ou
When there are people with odd behavior on the block, the neighbors mention, “Oh yeah, I read about you on the emails and blogs”…and, the people seem to leave the area immediately.
Reading this and the posts before it reminded me that I had the same man come up to me where I work, near 16th and Jackson. He said he works in the area, got locked out, and needed to pay a locksmith and wanted to borrow “5 or 10 bucks.” He didn’t have time to give me his spiel because I went inside. This was just a few weeks ago.
Seems harmless, just annoying.
I posted a few months back that he was making the rounds again. Nice to know he’s still around though. He’s knocked on our door 3 times now and each time was a slightly different story.
He knocked on my door just before Thanksgiving and had names and details about all my neighbors. He may actually be from the neighborhood and make the rounds whenever he visits his relatives.
if he ever comes to my door, I’ll offer him five bucks if he lets me take his picture. Then I’ll post it here. I wonder if he knows how famous he is on Central District News?
When he came to my door at 10:30 at night, and I turned him away, he scurried around beside and behind my house (prompting my neighbor to call the police). I don’t think he’s as harmless as he seems.
I’m in agreement. Just because someone isn’t armed doesn’t mean they’re harmless. Anyone walking around our neighborhood trying to swindle my neighbors out of money is doing some sort of harm in my book. If he knocks on my door I’ll try Arch’s approach.
hey there,
this same guy knocked on my door last night (2/7) around 8:30pm. I live near Yesler on 25th. Gave me almost the exact same story: he and his “gay” boyfriend (who works for Microsoft) just moved in and he’d been locked out and needed just $4 to pay off the locksmith. He promised to return with the money to pay me back in a few minutes. I hesitantly believed him, however, but was skeptical of his shabby appearance. Luckily my wife, who had heard me talking to him, had read this very post and told me it was a scam. The jig was up and he was gone.
I mean that his acting skills are bad. He’s been at my door twice in the past year. The second time I reminded him he’d been there before and I didn’t believe him then and I didn’t now. He “acted” like he had no idea what I was talking about and then “acted” as if he was yelling to the “locksmith” who was waiting on the street for the $5 he needed from me to “just wait a minute, I’ll be right with you.” I walked out and pointed out that no locksmith was there; he just left. I wonder home well he does at this…annoying.
He came by my house on Weller ST. a couple of years ago. He must do well enough to keep the gig up. He had no shoes on and tried to say they were locked in his house and he needed $4 more to pay the locksmith. He said he had just moved in and pointed to a house a couple doors down. I told him I knew the people that lived there and it wasn’t him and shut the door on him.
This guy has been around for many years, he sometimes tries to look in your home if you open the door to see if any valuables are near, then later the house is broken into (not by him, he is a spotter). Many stories of him on this site in the past. Once he said he was the janitor at MLK and locked his keys inside and needs to call a locksmith, at 8:30pm and MLK school had been shut down for 2 years!.
Now we tell him (thru the window) to please wait we called the police to help him.
Patrick just knocked on our door, asking me if I knew where the closest towing place was. I told him I knew who he was and told him to stay warm outside, then shut the door. We live near 29th & Jackson.