(Memphis) An elderly woman in Parkway Village says she’s relieved to know a man she once trusted is now in jail.
David Strickland is accused of robbing the 85-year-old woman., whom he used to help with her yard work.
The victim says she used to pay Strickland to rake her yard for three years, and then one day, he turned on her.
“He was a very good raker of leaves and things like that, but this time he was just a different person,” she said.
The woman didn’t want us to show her face or use her name, because five months after the robbery, it still makes her nervous.
“I am more aware now of what’s around me when I leave and I always completely lock up everywhere.”
She says Strickland used to live on her Parkway Village street with is mom and would rake people’s yards for money.
One day in June, she says the 25-year-old came by and she didn’t have work for him.
Police say he left but two hours later came back again, telling the woman that he had something very important to show her.
“And I said, ‘Well, I am not interested in what you are showing me’. I couldn’t get rid of him and so I opened the door like this and he grabbed my wrist and pulled me out.”
Police say he then pushed her and ran into her living room, stealing her wallet that was on her table.
“I said ‘Don’t do that David’.
He got away with her credit cards and cash, spending it at local gas stations and a cellphone store.
“I was concerned that no one had ever caught him.”
Police finally caught up with Strickland Thursday, charging him with robbery for what they say he did to the woman who gave him three years of work.
“I think I well rest a little easier now.”
The woman believes Strickland was high on drugs when he robbed her. His bond has been set at $5,000.
