Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District’s non-voting representative in the House of Representatives, was scammed out of over $4,300 by people purporting to be an HVAC crew.
The suspects arrived at Ms. Norton’s home in Southeast just after 3:30 p.m. Thursday, and said they were doing fireplace and ductwork. Ms. Norton, 88, let them in and let her card get charged, according to a Metropolitan Police Department report cited by WRC-TV.
The police also said in the report that the suspects previously tried and failed to solicit Ms. Norton in August and September, but were told to leave before they could enter the home.
Jacqueline Pelt reported the incident and told the police that no one was scheduled or authorized to do service work at Ms. Norton’s residence, but that the delegate’s credit card was charged $4,362, according to WTOP-FM.
Ms. Pelt is listed as the campaign treasurer for Ms. Norton on the Federal Election Commission website.
“The Congresswoman employs a house manager who oversees all maintenance services, so she initially assumed her staff had arranged the visit and provided her credit card for payment. Upon notifying her house manager, who reviewed Ring doorbell footage and confirmed that no such appointment had been scheduled, the incident was immediately reported to the police,” Ms. Norton’s office told WRC-TV.
Ms. Norton’s office also told WRC-TV that the police were erroneous to claim in their report that Ms. Norton, the oldest member of the House of Representatives, suffers from dementia and has a caretaker.
“The medical diagnosis included in the police report was based on an assumption the reporting officer was unqualified to make,” her office said.
D.C. Councilmember Robert White, formerly a staffer for Ms. Norton, told WJLA-TV that the alleged crime was “cruel” and that “it makes me angry, the fact that there are people who are going to prey on residents of D.C. I hate that that happened to her.”
Mr. White is running as a challenger for the District delegate seat in 2026 against Ms. Norton, who still plans to run for re-election.
“I say that my seniority is what is very important, and I am not going to step aside,” Ms. Norton told Axios last month.
