Sad tales were just a con job

Published 11:23 pm Wednesday, October 15, 2008

LYNNWOOD — She spun a heartbreaking story.

A recent widow. A daughter with cancer. Nasty landlords who threatened eviction. All she needed was a few hundred dollars, she told her victims, money she promised to pay back.

She called herself Pat, Carol, Mindy, Jean and Sheryl.

Those were all lies, police say.

The truth, according to detectives, is that Shirley Sue Urich, 58, is a convincing con artist, a career criminal and a thief.

She has victims throughout Washington and around the country. Until last week, Urich was on the run.

Now, she’s behind bars at the Snohomish County Jail.

An alert security guard spotted her on Oct. 9 at the Quil Ceda Creek Casino. The guard called Snohomish County sheriff’s deputies.

“She tried to lie to them, and eventually they found out who she was and she was caught,” Lynnwood police detective Doug Teachworth said. “It’s Christmas come early for me because of the crime spree she’s been waging on people up and down the West Coast for decades.”

Urich has at least 19 felony convictions for theft, stealing and fraud. She now faces several additional charges.

Lynnwood police have been tracking Urich since they learned of her elaborate scams in early 2006, Teachworth said.

“She was a very convincing con artist and would dupe people out of thousands of dollars,” he said.

Urich has been telling the same tales to her victims for decades.

In 1999, she hit the Everett area, tricking a couple out of $200 when she knocked on their door and told a sob story.

She bilked a Sultan horse tack business out of $1,500 dollars in November 2005 with a story of a dying husband and an overdue electric bill, according to court papers. Urich allegedly promised to repay the money the next day by handing over 16 saddles and a Ford pickup truck. She never came back.

On May 9, she allegedly convinced a Snohomish County man to give her $1,500. In that case, prosecutors say Urich told the man that her husband had recently died. She said the man used to drink coffee with the victim. She claimed her husband thought the world of the man. In tears, Urich told the victim she needed cash to pay an electrician, that she would pay him back.

The victim didn’t see her again until detectives showed him her mug shot.

Urich has surfaced in towns across Missouri and throughout Washington, including Redmond, Ferndale, Seattle and Lynnwood. She’s faced courts in six Missouri counties and in Skagit, Whatcom, King and Snohomish counties.

Her reputation reached national attention when one of her victims appeared on Sally Jessy Raphael’s television talk show, Teachworth said.

Urich has been difficult to apprehend, Lynnwood police spokeswoman Shannon Sessions said. She’s been on the move, occasionally leaving Washington.

In the past she was known to live in an RV.

Her cunning and convincing acts of deception have allowed her to slip away.

Teachworth said he acted on a hunch and distributed wanted fliers to Puget Sound-area casinos in 2006 and again in March when police believed Urich scammed someone in Stanwood.

The detective thought Urich might be supporting a gambling habit. In 2000, one of Urich’s victims bumped into her playing pull tabs at an Everett casino.

Urich was jailed on outstanding warrants for theft, attempted theft and probation violations.

Teachworth said he’s got at least a half-dozen more cases involving Urich that he plans to forward to Snohomish County prosecutors for review.

Now, he hopes she’s found guilty and given a lengthy sentence.

“Preying on the kindness and generosity of others is pretty despicable,” he said.

Reporter Jackson Holtz: 425-339-3437 or jholtz@heraldnet.com