Seniors beware: Jimmy Hoffa isn't buried in your back yard, police say.
Roseville Police put residents on alert Friday after learning several seniors were sent phony letters claiming to be from the state Department of Environmental Quality. The letters referenced a recent investigation into whether the former Teamsters union president, who disappeared July 30, 1975, outside an Oakland County restaurant, was buried beneath a slab of concrete in the driveway of a home on Florida Street.
"The letter claims the recent investigation into purported human remains … was a ruse to mislead the media and the actual remains are located in the back yard of the senior that the letter was sent (to)," Roseville police warned Friday in an emailed bulletin. "The letter states that law enforcement is concerned for the safety and security of the homeowner and that they will soon be contacted to arrange a time for the dig to take place."
Police Chief James Berlin said he believes the letters were sent to lure homeowners out of their homes to inspect the alleged gravesite and allow an accomplice to enter the home and rob it.
"We've gotten reports a couple of the letters were sent out locally," Berlin said. "I don't know if scam artists follow these types of (media) stories and weasel in behind them.
"I think most would realize this is fraudulent (but) it's very convincing," Berlin said. "The (DEQ) address is good; so is the 800 number. We want to get the word out there that this is a scam."
Brad Wurfel, a DEQ spokesman whose name is forged on the letter — and who is not the agency's director, as the bogus letter states — said Friday that he's "stunned" by the news.
"We would encourage anybody who received this communication to … contact the Roseville Police," he said. "This seems to carry a deceptive undertone that's troubling. We are taking this fairly seriously."
Police launched a search for human remains in the Macomb County community last month after a tipster came forward claiming he had seen what looked like a body being buried back in the 1970s.
Soil samples, collected from the site with the assistance of the DEQ and analyzed by Michigan State University, showed no signs of human decomposition.
Berlin said the police department concluded its investigation into the possible interment of a body on the property near Gratiot and Common Road.
The decision to sample the ground was prompted by a tip that was first relayed to a Washington, D.C.-based Hoffa biographer that the missing union leader may have been buried outside the home.
Berlin said the tipster believed Hoffa's body could be buried under the slab because there was a connection between the former homeowner and some Detroit-area mobsters named in the Hoffa investigation.
The search is the latest in a long line of investigations into the fate of the late ex-union leader.
In 2006, the FBI dug up a Milford Township horse farm and destroyed a barn searching for Hoffa's remains.
Roseville police warn seniors of Hoffa burial hoax | The Detroit News | detroitnews.com
