Chantal Cookware founder Heida Thurlow told ABC13 ONLY she was attacked on Westheimer Road by the scammer she was giving money to.

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — An elderly woman who founded a popular cookware company was attacked by a scammer to whom she gave money, Houston police said.

Heida Thurlow, who founded Chantal Cookware in 1971, said she was stopped at a red light on Westheimer Road at Stoney Brook Drive on Oct. 20 when she noticed a group of vagrants.

“One of them looked really sick and old,” Thurlow said in an interview with Eyewitness News ONLY ON THE 13TH.

Thurlow said she rolled down the window and called the man over.

“I gave him $10 and he looked at me and said, ‘Give me more,'” Thurlow remembers. “I mean, in such an aggressive way. I thought, ‘There’s no way I’m giving him any more.'”

She then said the man reached into her car through the window and punched her in the stomach. He is also said to have stolen her wallet from her lap.

“I was not afraid. I was angry. I was actually about to get out of the car and hit them back,” she said.

It didn’t take long for her credit card to be charged at gas stations. Weeks later, police arrested Sammy Mayfield.

“I have strict instructions from my children not to give any more money to any fraudster. I don’t want to get in trouble with my kids,” Thurlow said.

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