Elderly Glen Cove couple robbed of life savings by men offering landscaping help

GLEN COVE (WABC) -- Police are investigating a robbery on Long Island that stripped an elderly couple of their life savings.

Michele Angrisano and his wife say the suspects arrived with walkie talkies offering help, acting like they had known the couple for years. But instead, the men stole more than money.

"He said, 'Hi, grandpa, how are you?'" Angrisano said. "I said, 'OK, how are you? What can I do for you?' He said 'I want to show you in the back.'"

It started out so innocently, as the man led Angrisano into the backyard of the Glen Cove home, presumably to show him why he should trim some of his trees. The other suspect led his wife into the backyard, too.

"My wife with the other guy," Angrisano said. "He take her by the hand to the back. I said to my wife, 'Why don't you stay inside? Why do you come out here?' 'He said I need to come out here. I come.'"

After the men left, Angrisano checked his closet where he kept a safe containing his entire life savings, around $50,000.

"When I open, I see the clothes gone," he said. "And I open the side, I don't see the safe. I go outside and tell her the safe is gone."

The couple's daughter, Grace Cipriano, says it breaks her heart that all of her father's hard-earned money from working years as a custodian and landscaper is now gone. The family moved from Italy back in 1973.

But, she says, at least they're OK.

"I keep thinking about what could have happened," she said. "And I thank God what could have happened didn't happen, and they're still here safe and sound with me."

Police are actively investigating.

"What we're doing now is reaching out to the community for any tips," Glen Cove police lieutenant John Nagle said. "We're trying to find out what kind of car they were using. We're trying to find out any possible plate number. So that's where the investigation is going right now."

Glen Cove police are also reaching out to Nassau and Suffolk counties to see if any other similar crimes have been committed.