Gypsies arrested in Tampa

By: Bill McGinty

Tampa, Florida -

Gerda Bresnahan, Ripped off by gyspies:
"I'll tell you they were pretty slick talkers, very charming and very personable people."

And that's why Gerda Bresnahan says she let her guard down when the couple approached her in the front yard of the home she's lived in for 48 years. Police say the young couple smoothed talked their way into the home, distracted the couple, then quickly robbed them. At police district one detective displayed the wealth of stolen goods these gypsies had with them, things like 100 thousand in cash, antique jewelry, coin collections and almost 11 thousand in savings bonds.

Officer Susan Cannon, Tampa Police:
"Unfortunately you don't have to be elderly to be a victim, or to be scammed by gypsies, it happens all the time."

Police tell us these people use fake id's, they have as many as 3 to 5 names, phony credit cards, and use cars that aren't registered. And the gypsy lifestyle makes them very difficult to catch much less prosecute. Of the two arrested, one has already paid cash to bond out, so police say be wary of strangers offering good deals.


EDITORIAL COMMENT:
I wonder whether anyone could immagine what would happen if the police and the media would refer to other ethnic folks in that way; say, for instance, by replacing Gypsies with Jews, and what would happen then, regardless of whether the fact that, maybe, in a particular instance a criminal may be a Jew or a group of them being Jewish. It just could not be done but, when it is Gyppsies then there is no problem with it whatsoever, whether the the USA, the UK, Germany, or elsewhere.

Veshengro