Lower Saucon Township Police are warning residents to exercise caution when opening the door to strangers, following what they said was a possible attempt at a distraction burglary Tuesday.
In a post on the department’s Crimewatch site, police said the incident they are now investigating took place around 2 p.m. at a home on Apple Street.
Police said a slim white man, approximately 5 feet 8 inches in height, knocked on a resident’s door and then walked in “stating he was from the water authority and needed to see the water meter.”
The man then reportedly told the homeowner “he would be back tomorrow and left in a hurry in a white pickup truck,” according to police, who said they later checked with both the Lower Saucon Authority and Hellertown Borough Authority and confirmed that “neither had been to the complainant’s residence.”
Police said the man was wearing a hat with a U.S. flag emblem on it, as well as a green and yellow vest and cargo pants at the time.
They advised residents to call police immediately if they suspect someone is trying to enter their home under false pretenses, because doing so is often how distraction burglaries are committed.
In this type of crime, typically one person or multiple people distract a homeowner while another person is left unaccompanied in the residence, ostensibly to check a utility meter.
The unaccompanied individual then steals items, police said, noting that “in this instance, having only one person reportedly trying to gain entry and then leaving once being greeted by the homeowner, it may have been an attempt to commit a burglary in an unoccupied residence.”
Crew members from the Lower Saucon Authority–which provides water and sewer services to parts of the township–will “always be wearing LSA clothing and have identification,” police said.
“If someone ever shows up at your house claiming to be from the Lower Saucon Authority and you are the least bit unsure of their legitimacy, you can call their office at 610-317-3212 to verify them,” they added.
Anyone with information concerning Tuesday’s incident is asked to call Lower Saucon Township Police at 610-759-2200.
