Dive Brief:
-
Phoenix police are looking for a suspect who has robbed at least 16 day laborers looking for work on local job sites.
-
The man, age 25 to 30, picks up Hispanic day laborers for hire who gather at Home Depot stores in the mornings, luring them into his car with the promise of work. Then, he drives them a few blocks away and robs them with a gun or knife. The suspect is also Hispanic.
-
The robberies have been ongoing for 20 months, police said. A local nonprofit organization, Silent Witness, has offered a $1,000 reward for information that might lead to the man’s arrest.
Dive Insight:
Day laborers in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, New Orleans and other urban markets have been targets for thieves in the past. Sometimes called “walking ATMs,” the workers, who are mostly undocumented immigrants, hang out near home-improvement stores in the hope that contractors, who pay them cash under the table, will enlist them for a day’s work.