SCRANTON -- A man now faces charges for two burglaries in Lackawanna County, and police think he may be behind several more.
Kevin Pinter of Bushkill walked into the Lackawanna County Courthouse with Archbald police officers a day after admitting to them that he burglarized two businesses in the borough earlier this month.
"He's been very cooperative with us about it," said Archbald Police Chief Tim Trently. "It's due to a drug problem. It's something that we're seeing a lot of anymore and at that point, he needed some money."
According to court papers, Pinter broke into Quinn's Cafe and Archbald Express Mart early in the morning on December 10. He took cash, cigarettes, and lottery tickets from both places.
That started what state police called a string of burglaries that week in Monroe and Pike Counties. Some of them were caught on surveillance video.
Troopers and Archbald police believe they are all connected. Pinter could be a suspect in a total of seven other burglaries.
"I was aware of the two in Archbald. I didn't know that there was other ones," said Joe Mott.
Mott owns Quinn's Cafe in Archbald. The break-in this month was the first in the more than 30 years he's been in business.
"I think we make our cashiers more aware in the event of a holdup because you're hearing more and more that you didn't worry about years ago. And I mean, we do have the alarm system, and security cameras, and everything you can do possible to try to prevent it."
After his arraignment here in Scranton, Kevin Pinter was sent to the Lackawanna County Prison with bail set at $100,000.
There is no word yet when or if he will be charged in the other burglaries.
"I do believe that he may be a suspect in some other burglaries that are out of our jurisdiction," said Chief Trently. "At this point, whatever information we have we will certainly forward that to other agencies."