Hostile Scammer at Archives Metro

“Dear PoPville,

I witnessed a sad scene this morning in the Archives platform. Only made worse by the metro worker I reported this to. I got off one of the last cars on my train at about 9:00am. As I am walking on the platform toward the escalator, I see a man talking to a very elderly couple – easily in their 80s. The man is very agitated and yelling, “two tens for a $20!” And the poor couple is very upset with each other and the woman said to her husband “I gave him money already!” They were clearly confused about what was happening. So I stopped and to make sure the guy knew I was watching the whole thing. I immediately recognized the man as the same person who approached me at Archives a month or two ago asking me for a $20 for two $10s (of course I said no then). He started yelling about people minding their own business. So I go up the escalators to and tell the station manager what is happening on the platform. The station manager was clearly only half listening and looked at me and said: “well, when people ask to make change you shouldn’t give it to them.” Baffled, I said that I am aware of that but there is an elderly couple downstairs that is very upset right now. As I am saying this, the thief approaches from behind to walk through the gate – the metro worker reached out and put his hand on the mans shoulder and said hi! I, of course, said “that’s the guy scamming the older couple!” The metro worker nonchalantly walked away and said, ok I’ll call metro police. Yeah right. I watched the thief begin approaching people at the fare station while metro continued to do nothing. I was so angry I stormed into my office and called metro police and metro customer service. But now I feel bad that during this whole thing, I don’t think anyone went back to check on the elderly couple.

So PoPville, if you are in the Archives metro station, look out for this man. He was rather aggressive today, which is frightening. Description: black male, in his thirties, bald. He was wearing a red shirt and navy pants. He was also carrying a washcloth or hand towel – if that helps.”