Gardaí in Donegal have warned the public to be on their guard for a conman who holds himself out as a priest to gain people’s confidence but is actually a thief. Letterkenny Gardaí said the man who looks and dresses like a priest and speaks with an English accent, has been sighted in the town in several buildings.
But they believe his identity is an elaborate fake and warn that he has actually been sighted pilfering a woman’s purse.
The man claims to be a 'Monsignor J Dalton' and is even believed to have documentation to prove his fake identity.
"The man, who claims to be Monsignor J Dalton, went into one public building in the town on Friday last saying that one of his parishioners - an 83-year-old McGinley man originally from Letterkenny - had died in Birmingham,” a spokesperson said.
“He said the man's wife wanted to donate archive papers and pictures of the town from years ago”.
"When the woman working in the building left the room for a minute the man is clearly shown on CCTV putting his hand into her hand bag and stealing her purse”.
The Garda spokesman said the brazen thief even continued to talk to the woman for several minutes when she returned to her desk before he made good his escape.
"It was a very elaborate plan -this lady was duped and we would ask people to remain vigilant," he said
He added that the bogus cleric is about 5'9" tall, has sallow skin, speaks with an English accent and was wearing an unusual silver ring with blue metal on his right hand.
Meanwhile, a conman entering houses in Limerick on the pretext of being a doctor or a tradesman is suspected of stealing a robe belonging to Franciscan Friars of the Renewal working in Moyross in Limerick which was stolen from the local church.
Sergeant Liam Sheehan said he was concerned that someone might use the robe to mislead people into making donations to charity and get into people's homes.
"We have seen many different guises used by criminals to con elderly people to hand over money - criminals pretending to be doctors, nurses, health board officials, ESB workers, revenue officials, priests and even Gardaí, so it's quite possible that someone could pretend to be a monk."
"We're particularly worried because the monks are so well known and loved in Moyross that people might be even quicker to believe someone wearing a monk's robe, if they're asked for money.”
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
No responsibility or liability shall attach itself to us or to the blogspot ‘Clerical Whispers’ for any or all of the articles placed here.
The placing of an article hereupon does not necessarily imply that we agree or accept the contents of the article as being necessarily factual in theology, dogma or otherwise.
Source (CIN)
SV (2/4)