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'Polite' man runs hoagie scam
Saturday, June 09, 2001 By Jonathan D. Silver, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
What a bunch of baloney.
A slick operator whose slogan could be "Buy one, get none" hoodwinked several good-hearted North Hills residents last month by claiming he was selling $10 hoagies for charity, collecting cash up front, and then never delivering the goods on the promised date.
"I told him how wonderful he was -- a nice, young Catholic boy selling hoagies, going door to door and working for Habitat for Humanity. I fell for it hook, line and sinker," said a vexed Helen McKinley, 60, of Ross. "That's the last time I'll trust a clean-cut kid."
McKinley and at least two other residents of Kinvara Court, a cul-de-sac in an upscale Ross housing plan, were snookered by the well-spoken and polite young man who walked door to door in early May carrying nothing more than a yellow tablet, a pen and a load of malarkey.
The man purported to be raising money for charitable works under the auspices of St. John Neumann Church in Franklin Park, which doesn't attract parishioners from Ross.
He identified himself to McKinley as "Doug Smithfield" and set June 2 as the delivery date for the sandwiches. When she checked later, she couldn't find anyone by that name in the North Hills.
When residents asked questions, the man, who appeared to be in his late teens, parried with answers.
Why sell hoagies in Ross for a Franklin Park church? Because his parents switched parishes. Why wasn't he in class? His school permitted him time off.
As the hours ticked by on June 2 and her hoagie didn't show up, McKinley called the church and spoke with the pastor, the Rev. William Bovard.
"He said to me, 'Oh, you too?' " McKinley recalled. "He said, 'This kid's been in other neighborhoods and we ran something in our bulletin to warn people.' "
In fact, St John Neumann published a warning three times last month in its weekly bulletin.
After fielding about seven complaints from Franklin Park, McCandless, Ohio Township and Ross, the church also contacted all four municipal police departments, said Sarah Schneider, St. John Neumann's community outreach coordinator.
The church does do charitable work with Habitat for Humanity and even raises money by selling hoagies. But, Schneider noted, hoagies are sold only in February, they cost $3.50, and money is never requested up front.
The fact that there are any similarities at all bothers Schneider.
"We don't know how he knows about this," Schneider said. "He's giving us a bad name. It's making it bad for all the kids who have to raise money to go and do worthwhile things."
The fact that the hoagie never showed up bothers Walt Conlon, 61, McKinley's neighbor.He ended up ordering a pizza June 2.
"If he doesn't get caught on a bigger scam, he'll probably go real far in the world," Conlon said.
Brenda Scherling, another Kinvara Court resident, was double mad about being bamboozled. She paid for two hoagies. The scam artist sat comfortably on a front porch chair as he jotted down her name, address and order.
Scherling noted that he was tall and slender, had close-cropped hair, wore cologne, and had on an Abercrombie & Fitch T-shirt under a plaid camp shirt.
"I'm so naive," said Scherling, 36. "We learned the hard way."
McKinley is the only victim in Ross to alert police. That, said Lt. James Guffey, is one reason the case will be hard to solve.
Also hindering investigators is the lack of precision on McKinley's part in both describing the grifter and pinpointing the date he came to her house.
"We're not going to catch this guy unless he goes and does this again," Guffey said.
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