[MLBellis]

do not know how true this is....it is worth passing around.....one of my neighbors sent this to me.

SUDDEN POWER LOSS?

Pay attention, I'm serious. My neighbor's entire house electricity went out. In a few minutes a young man was at the door and told her he was working on a house up the street and saw smoke from her outside electrical box. He offered to look at it and to fix whatever was wrong. Luckily she is one of my friends and had the presence of mind to refuse his offer and called me. I checked everything out and found nothing wrong except the master circuit breakers were tripped. I'm not a professional electrician, but I have an electrical degree from the USNA and many years in Navy electrical mishaps.
I concluded that the kid must have been up to something and asked my neighbor to call the police; which she did. She was told that officers would be right out as there had been other complaints just like hers. It turns out this kid has been active throughout the Villages and has dunned several gullible persons out of cash and caused damage by tripping their outside circuit breakers.

Now, If you see, hear or experience anything like this, delay him if possible and get the police out---they want to catch him in the act if they can. If he leaves, see if you can get his license plate number---although he usually parks on another street or down the block.

[villager]

Very interesting. Thank you for sharing!

[getdul981]

And just where are these outside circuit breakers? The only thing I know of outside that anyone can get to is the cut-off for the air conditioner.

[jblum315]

Never heard of an outside circuit breaker. Find that a little hard to believe.

[graciegirl]

I am very sceptical.

[ajbrown]

I saw this email last week from a neighbor and my first thought was holy cow, TV has gotten so big we get these type of emails. I guess in TV we need our own snopes.com.

[buggyone]

My circuit breakers are inside the garage which is locked. Which one are you talking about?

[asianthree]

Originally Posted by buggyone

My circuit breakers are inside the garage which is locked. Which one are you talking about?

mine too

[chuckster]

Think it's another "he said, she said"....If true, should not leave their garage door open and accessible(breaker panel in garage not outside). The only accessible "smoking" object outside is the meter. Have to be "ballsy" to tackle the outside underground wiring.

[mulligan]

The only way to shut off the power outside is cut the lock and pull the meter.

[MLBellis]

I just came back from the Outback... I spoke to two police officers who were there having dinner...they did comfirm this is true... they have caught this guy a few times, but when he gets out he goes back to do it again.... they also said, now his friends are doing it too!

[justjim]

Originally Posted by MLBellis

I just came back from the Outback... I spoke to two police officers who were there having dinner...they did comfirm this is true... they have caught this guy a few times, but when he gets out he goes back to do it again.... they also said, now his friends are doing it too!

How much money do they have to dupe Villagers out of before it becomes a serious crime? I must be missing something here??

[graciegirl]

Originally Posted by MLBellis

I just came back from the Outback... I spoke to two police officers who were there having dinner...they did comfirm this is true... they have caught this guy a few times, but when he gets out he goes back to do it again.... they also said, now his friends are doing it too!

I could have sworn it was gonna be a rumor.

[Bogie Shooter]

Originally Posted by MLBellis

do not know how true this is....it is worth passing around.....one of my neighbors sent this to me.

SUDDEN POWER LOSS?

Pay attention, I'm serious. My neighbor's entire house electricity went out. In a few minutes a young man was at the door and told her he was working on a house up the street and saw smoke from her outside electrical box. He offered to look at it and to fix whatever was wrong. Luckily she is one of my friends and had the presence of mind to refuse his offer and called me. I checked everything out and found nothing wrong except the master circuit breakers were tripped. I'm not a professional electrician, but I have an electrical degree from the USNA and many years in Navy electrical mishaps.
I concluded that the kid must have been up to something and asked my neighbor to call the police; which she did. She was told that officers would be right out as there had been other complaints just like hers. It turns out this kid has been active throughout the Villages and has dunned several gullible persons out of cash and caused damage by tripping their outside circuit breakers.

Now, If you see, hear or experience anything like this, delay him if possible and get the police out---they want to catch him in the act if they can. If he leaves, see if you can get his license plate number---although he usually parks on another street or down the block.

If you go to Snopes.com you can find a cute email you can forward to your neighbor.

[MLBellis]

Originally Posted by KeepingItReal

There are no outside breakers for the electrical service, the main disconnect (usually a 200 AMP Breaker) is in the electrical panel inside the garage. Need to keep doors closed sounds like.

you would be very surprised on how many people do not know that.... besides most people would only hear smoke from their home & not think twice about a breaker box!