CAPTURED: Prolific thief accused of preying on elderly man arrested while showing up to court for separate case
FUGITIVE CAPTURED September 18, 2019 --
The Pierce County Sheriff's Department says Suzanne Cozad was taken into custody by deputies when she showed up to court for another case on Wednesday.
The deputies say she was unhappy she was put on Washington's Most Wanted, so that her friends and family could see.
FUGITIVE WANTED IN PIERCE COUNTY September 13, 2019 --
Someone willing to prey on the elderly, taking advantage of their good heart and vulnerability -- is just despicable -- and that's Suzanne Cozad, a.k.a. ‘Rosemary Jean Hake.’
She is a prolific criminal with dozens of convictions.
She’s wanted in Pierce County after skipping court on two charges of identity theft and three counts of forgery.
The victim in the case she's wanted for was Curly Roemer, who detectives and his daughter say Cozad befriended and took advantage of before he died. "She started hanging around him a lot and started asking for money, so he would give her $100 here and $100 there and it just progressed from there, where she started coming over in the middle of the night, knocking on his window, yelling she wanted money. She went on to come in one day and say that she hadn't eaten in days and he let her in, while he was making her a sandwich she stole two checks out of his checkbook,” said Roemer’s daughter, Marilyn Davidson. “It's horrible. Not getting justice for him. Watching her in court manipulate them. Lie in court. It's just a game to her. She has no remorse. I watched her in court. She's laughing, she's joking. One time, when it got delayed again, she turned around and laughed at me.”
Detectives say Cozad cashed the two checks for $1,000 each. That was in 2017. She's also accused of stealing two more checks from Roemer that were not noticed until after his death last year -- and cashing them at Walmart.
"This lady has created lots of havoc over the years,” said Pierce County Sheriff’s Det. Ed Troyer. “In this particular case, the victim was an elderly man and anybody who's going to go after seniors, or the less vulnerable is somebody who's going to go after anybody. She has 19 felony convictions for drugs, but the bigger thing is she's got convictions for burglary, theft, stolen property, identity theft and this is somebody who's not going to quit until they're caught. Even once they're caught, she still continues to do it, so we want to get her off the streets, so she can't victimize anybody else."
She's 64 years old, 5’6” and weighs 145 pounds.
If you know where she's hiding, so Pierce County detectives can get her caught and back in court, so Roemer’s family can get justice, contact Crime Stoppers with the information. Use the P3 Tips App on a smart phone that you can download for free, or call the hotline at 1-800-222-TIPS(8477). It's anonymous -- you never have to give your name -- and you'll get a cash reward of up to $1,000 if your tip helps lead to her arrest.