FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Terry Owens' friends claim he was lured in and ripped off. The 67-year-old man with advanced dementia and cancer left a Fort Lauderdale beauty shop recently with close to $8,000 worth of beauty products.
When Local 10 News investigative reporter Jeff Weinsier asked Owens what he had bought and why, he had no clue.
"How did they sell it to you?" asked Weinsier.
"They said I needed it," replied Owens.
According to receipts obtained by Local 10, Owens' credit card was charged $3,710 on Oct. 29. Four minutes after that charge, an additional $4,028 was charged to the account.
The sale took place at Luxury Beauty, 3304 NE 33rd St., in Fort Lauderdale.
Among the items purchased by Owens were two bottles of Mineral Matrix 24-karat gold facial serum, facial cleanser gel, after-shave, anti-wrinkle cream, a thermal beauty mask and intensive age defying cream.
Before dementia took over, Owens, who has no family, was a professor and actuary for a large insurance company.
Longtime friend Peter Harrington and his wife take care of Owens and have power of attorney.
"Terry has ... very little memory, very little judgment, very little awareness of what is going on," said Harrington.
Harrington said he believe Owens was lured into Luxury Beauty while walking for a slice of pizza alone before he was sold the goods.
Harrington said Owens' credit card has a single purchase limit of $5,000 and claimed, to get around that, Luxury Beauty swiped the card twice with less amounts.
"He was taken advantage of for money," Harrington said.
Harrington has filed a dispute with the credit card company over the transaction on Owens' behalf.
Luxury Beauty is owned and operated by Nissim Buzaglo, who refused to talk to Local 10 and called Fort Lauderdale police after Weinsier showed up at the store.
A Fort Lauderdale police officer originally told Harrington the incident was a civil matter, but the department's special victims unit has been forwarded the receipts and information.
***Brilliance New York, which bags were shown in the video, released a statement to Local 10 News saying in part, "Brilliance New York is not and has never been affiliated or associated with this location. We have never sold merchandise to this store and have no idea how they got a hold of our bags."
Follow Jeff Weinsier on Twitter @jweinsier
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