Arlington PD Investigating Report Of Fake Water Department Worker

ARLINGTON, MA — Arlington police are investigating a report of a man pretending to be a water department employee in an attempt to get into a home. Police said the encounter happened around noon Thursday.

A similar incident was reported in Newton, where police issued a warning after the man tried to get into a home in the Lower Falls area Wednesday evening.

A Newton resident told police that around 6 p.m. a man wearing a yellow reflective vest and a name badge around his neck showed up at her Pierrepoint Road home. He said he was from the water department and needed to check her pipes because water in the area was contaminated, according to a post on the Newton Police Department’s Facebook page.

The man then went into the basement and started banging on the pipes, she told police. When he told her he needed to change out one of her pipes to fix the contaminated water issue, the woman asked to see his badge and realized it was handwritten. The woman said she declined his services. He then told her he’d be back in 10 minutes but never returned.

The woman said the man left the area in a white ice-cream-truck-like vehicle with no markings.

The Newton Water Department told police they were not aware of a contamination, and they had not sent a worker to the woman’s house.

The woman described the man as heavyset, light-brown-skinned and about 5-foot-5 with a mole next to his right eye and a baseball hat.

Anyone with information about either encounter is asked to call the Newton Police Department at 617-796-2100 or the Arlington Police Department at 781-316-3910.

Jenna Fisher (Patch Staff) contributed to this report.

Photo by Jenna Fisher/Patch Staff