FITCHBURG - Police are looking for two people who allegedly forced their way into a woman's home and bound her with duct tape Tuesday after posing as city employees.
Police Captain Charles M. Tasca said the 60-year-old victim told police that one of the suspects had made two other visits to her house in the days before the attack, saying he was a city Water Department employee and needed to check her meter.
On his third visit, Tuesday morning, the man was accompanied by an accomplice, and the house was robbed, Tasca said. Police said they received a 911 call just before 9 a.m. Tuesday, but the caller was not communicative.
"It sounded like a child screaming in the background," Tasca said.
When a police officer responded to the origin of the 911 call, which was on Rockland Street in the Cleghorn section of the city, he heard muffled screams as he approached the door.
The officer saw the victim with duct tape on her mouth and her hands bound.
The woman told the officer, James Farrell, that she had freed herself from a chair just enough to dial 911.
She described the suspect who made the visits to her home as about 40 years old, 5 feet 10, and weighing 200 pounds with thick eyebrows, full lips, and no facial hair.
Tasca said police have had calls about similar schemes in which thieves posed as city workers. In other incidents reported to police, the homes appeared to be targeted and were occupied by older, single people, he said.
"The safest course of action is you do not let the individual or individuals into your home," Tasca said.
He recommended people call the police even before confirming their visitor's identification.
