Cops: Man scammed landlord

MILFORD -- Police say a man told by his landlord to hire a plumber altered the receipt and then kept the entire, inflated reimbursement.

Jeremy Kell, 29, of Benjamin Heights Drive, was arrested on a warrant charging him with fifth-degree larceny and second-degree forgery. He was released on a promise to appear on Oct. 16 at Superior Court in Milford.

When Kell rented an apartment last December he complained to the landlord about the plumbing, said Officer Jeff Nielsen, the Milford police spokesman. Kell was told that he could hire a plumber to fix the problem and that he'd be reimbursed.

But after paying the suspect $885, the landlord received an overdue notice from the plumber, who had billed $385, Nielsen said. The landlord compared thwe invoices given to him by his tenant and the plumber and found that Kell had altered the original to add charges, Nielsen said.