A man has been arrested after managing to con dozens of victims into
allowing him into their homes by dressing up in nappies and sucking a
lollipop.
Alberto Julian Meza, 25, targeted mainly older women pretending to be a
little boy who was lost and asking for help in finding his mummy.
Locals in the town of Villa Elisa, a suburb of Asuncion which is the
capital city of Paraguay, said Meza was a regular walking around the
streets and most people had simply assumed he was mentally ill.
But in reality he had been targeting mainly elderly women in order to
get them to take him in, after which he would steal whatever was to hand
and run off while they were making him a snack or bringing him a drink.
Local woman Lara Orta Ornelas, 59, said: "I am surprised that the
police have only just now arrested him. He has been doing this for years
and I know the police have had complaints before, but it's incredible
that they never realized the baby is actually a fully grown man. You can
see him walking around the streets most days and a fully grown man in
nappies is not exactly hard to find."
Another, Claudia Paiva, 43, said: "This man has been going around like this for a very long time and we are all amazed that they are only doing something right now about it." And a third, Sandra Dominguez Pereira, 48, said: "Did police not know him? He was always around, it makes you wonder if he had connections in the right places." However a police spokesman defended officers, saying that the few reports they had received had described a child and they had not realized that the victims, mostly elderly women, had not correctly described the thief.
As a result, they had not been looking for an adult man in a nappy
when investigating the thefts.
Police realized however that the child might not be all it seemed when
they had a report that somebody's pocket been pinched, and that the
suspect was a man dressed as a baby with a lollipop.
As officers started searching the neighborhood, it was not difficult
this time round to find the thief, who was still dressed as a toddler,
with a diaper, a lollipop and a bottle of milk.
The police spokesman said: "When he saw the officers, he threw the
wallet in a courtyard, but kept the money stuffed in his diaper where it
was recovered and returned to the victim."
Another, Claudia Paiva, 43, said: "This man has been going around like this for a very long time and we are all amazed that they are only doing something right now about it." And a third, Sandra Dominguez Pereira, 48, said: "Did police not know him? He was always around, it makes you wonder if he had connections in the right places." However a police spokesman defended officers, saying that the few reports they had received had described a child and they had not realized that the victims, mostly elderly women, had not correctly described the thief.
As a result, they had not been looking for an adult man in a nappy
when investigating the thefts.
Police realized however that the child might not be all it seemed when
they had a report that somebody's pocket been pinched, and that the
suspect was a man dressed as a baby with a lollipop.
As officers started searching the neighborhood, it was not difficult
this time round to find the thief, who was still dressed as a toddler,
with a diaper, a lollipop and a bottle of milk.
The police spokesman said: "When he saw the officers, he threw the
wallet in a courtyard, but kept the money stuffed in his diaper where it
was recovered and returned to the victim."
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