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Other Homeowners Spotted Alleged Water Company Thief

SCRANTON — Other homeowners are coming forward to say a water company employee showed up at their house and seemed suspicious. It comes after he was caugh...
leonard kalinoski

SCRANTON -- Other homeowners are coming forward to say a water company employee showed up at their house and seemed suspicious.

It comes after he was caught breaking into a home while on the job.

A Pennsylvania American Water employee has been charged with burglary after police say he broke into a home he was dispatched to.

Scranton police say they're still investigating to see if this happened to any other houses.

That Pennsylvania American Water employee is Leonard Kalinoski of Wilkes-Barre. He was released on bail Wednesday night after police say he was caught while burglarizing a home.

We followed Kalinoski's route and found other Pennsylvania American Water customers who were surprised to see Kalinoski at their door.

James Gonzalez isn't normally home during the day but Wednesday he was late. In the morning, he heard someone at the door of his home on Leslie Drive in Scranton. It was a Pennsylvania American Water employee.

"At least he looked like one. He had the shirt on, and he started asking me questions that just weren't making sense to me about my heat, what kind of heating unit I had, how many people were in the house, just stuff that didn't seem right. He pointed at my gas meter and told me it was my water meter," Gonzalez recalled.

Gonzalez got a funny feeling and didn't let the man inside.

After seeing his mug shot, he confirmed it was Leonard Kalinoski, a real Pennsylvania American Water employee who is now accused of breaking into a home in Scranton Wednesday afternoon. The homeowner was asleep at home and says he caught him in the act.

"Later in the evening, we were watching Newswatch 16 and my wife shook me and said, 'Oh, my God, look at the news,' and it was about this employee who got caught burglarizing another house on the other side of the mountain here and it just fell into place."

Newswatch 16 visited seven other houses on Kalinoski's Wednesday work order found inside his work van. Almost all of them were vacant.

We found another family who had a visit from Leonard Kalinoski that day, in south Scranton. They did not want to go on camera or have their home shown on TV, but they did tell us that Kalinoski asked the same unusual questions and they weren't expecting anyone from Pennsylvania American Water.

Scranton police say their case is still open. They want to know whether Kalinoski is tied to any other burglaries.

Gonzalez is confident that he avoided one.

"I was off yesterday, otherwise my wife would have been home alone, and she works at night, so she's usually sleeping, so it could have turned out a whole lot different."

None of the Pennsylvania American Water customers we talked to knew why an employee was at their address. The company confirmed that Kalinoski was dispatched to the house on Wintermantle Avenue to shut off the water but would not tell us where else he may have been on Wednesday.

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