Police in Karmiel received a call Tuesday night from the central Israel Police switchboard that a local senior citizen was in need of assistance.
The distraught woman told police who arrived at her home that a man had come to the door saying he was a messenger from Pelephone.
Yes – of course she let him in.
As soon as she opened the door, she told the officers, he shoved her back, hard, and pushed his way into her apartment. Then he robbed her valuables and a sum of money, and fled.
The officers took a description of the suspect and said they would search for him.
Now, anyone who has lived in a big city – or a small one – knows how rare it is for such a search to come up roses, let alone the same night. But Karmiel was started in 1964 as a development town, a jewel in the Beit HaKerem Valley dividing the upper and lower Galilee. Many people who live there still have that small town sense about them.
On Tuesday night, Karmiel police tracked down that suspect and arrested him within hours.
Police sources said he is a local, age 41, and is “suspected of having participated in the incident.” Within his possession were items that were “similar to those that were stolen” from the elderly lady.
It’s not always possible, of course — but isn’t it nice when it happens?