SOUTH FLORIDA — A South Florida homeowner is calling for tighter regulations on the locksmith industry after someone tried to break into his house by convincing a local locksmith he lived there, an easy scheme that many have not heard about.
Mike Callahan is grateful his oldest son was sitting on his porch at his Hollywood home when a van from Lee's locksmith showed up.
The locksmith and another man, Bruce Davis, got out of the van and Davis claimed he lived there and needed to get inside.
Davis even showed the locksmith a bank statement with the address of the house.
Callahan's son immediately called his father.
"He called me up and said, 'Dad, did you call a locksmith to come out here?'" said Callahan, "and in the background I heard a booming voice say, 'Kid, why don't you just get out of here, you know this is my house.'"
That's when the locksmith closed the door and waited for police instead.
Police said Davis simply changed the mailing address on his bank account and printed out the statement.
Marco Salvino owns Lee's Locksmith. He said Davis showed up at the shop, claimed he lost his keys at the beach and needed a locksmith to open his door.
Salvino also said the locksmith on the case certainly would have asked for a picture ID once the door was open.
"We got out to the house and we told him when we got there, we needed to see a picture ID to associate with the paperwork and he said no problem, he had that inside the house," Salvino said.
Callahan said he was surprised to learn that locksmiths aren't required to see any identification as soon as they're asked to open a door.
"I believe the law needs to be put in place before the tragedy does happen," Callahan said.
Davis tried to run for it but police caught him.
He was charged with attempted burglary.
WFTV
