Family's bank account cleaned out

Shelton (WTNH) - A family said their bank account was drained after they allowed a local company to come into their home and sell a vacuum. Two of the salesman allegedly made off with blank checks along with the family's trust.

With no answers from police, the Vidal family, of Shelton, decided to Count on 8.

If nothing else, the salesmen who sold the Vidal family the $1,100 Kirby vacuum were persistent when they visited their Shelton home.

"They pretty much wouldn't leave, till she bought the vacuum," said Rosana Vidal of Shelton. "They were here [from] 11 a.m. to 4-5 p.m. -- it was pretty much all day."

But Rosana got a concerning message the next day from her bank. Money from an account she and her mother Ana rarely used had been taken out and deposited at a People's Bank ATM in Stamford for $2,500.

"She didn't write the check, and I didn't write the check," Rosana said. "I called the bank and said, 'I have this check that was deposited, nobody wrote this check.'"

The next day there was another check. This time $3,000 was deposited at a TD Bank in Norwalk.

"So then I called them and I'm like, 'How come this other $3,000 check got posted to my account?'" Rosana said.

The family did their own investigation and discovered that checks from a bedroom desk were gone. Rosana's father believes at least one of the salesmen, from a company called SZ Enterprises out of Orange, is responsible.

"One would show you the [vacuum], the other guy, she no see it; she was looking at the guy showing her the stuff," said Pedro Vidal of Shelton.

"I talked to my mom, and she said 'they were in your bedroom,'" said Rosana.

That was back in July; the investigation stalled for three months until a phone call from News Channel 8 sparked police to call the family to look at the case again.

A manager for SZ Enterprises told News Channel 8 that one of the salesman quit shortly after the  incident began and the other employee simply has disappeared.

Shelton Police are investigating and the family said investigators are actively trying to track down the two men. In the future, the family revealed instead of having a store come to them they'll shop the traditional way.

"Have a paper trail," Rosana said with a laugh.

An interesting sidenote: one of the banks has a surveillance picture of a man depositing one of the checks but this person isn't one of the two salesman. When the bank contacted him, he then put the money back into the Vidal account.

Meanwhile, the manager of SZ said when they found out about this incident in July it was certainly disappointing and troubling. But the company said this is not the way they do business.