Readers comment on Torrance con artist

I received a couple of e-mails today from people concerned about the con artist working Torrance:

"Mr. Altman,

This has actually been going on for a long time.

My wife was actually conned by this woman almost 2 years ago in our North Torrance neighborhood. The name she used was "Carmen". She has hit a few other people on our block (although they didn't fall for it) and one of our neighbors saw her attempt the same scam at a party near the Gardena border just about a year ago.

At that time, she was driving a gold Crown Victoria and had an accomplice waiting in the car."

"Hi Larry,

Just read your article about the Torrance con artist. I'm not sure if this is the same woman or not, but I was just approached on Monday after work in the parking lot by a black woman needing money for gas. Her story was a little different, though, as she claimed her lost her wallet and needed some gas to drive 70 miles away. She claimed she filed a police report about the missing wallet. She also claimed she her brother (I think?) was in the car on oxygen and she needed to get home.

Like I said, I don't know if this is the same person or not (there was no mention of a construction accident, she was not dressed in a medical smock, and she was in a white Chevy), but I did snap of photo of her car and license plate with my iPhone. Feel free to forward the information to the investigators if you think it helps."

Thanks, I sent it over to Torrance PD.