SCOTT TOWNSHIP (KDKA) – Scott Township police have arrested a security guard, accusing him of burglarizing the apartments of the elderly at the upscale Providence Point retirement community.

Scott Police Sgt. Jeff Skees told KDKA-TV that Steven Kowalski, 49, of Baldwin, stole a master key to enter the apartments when he knew the residents wouldn’t be around.

There may be a dozen or more victims. The total take of the stolen items could be as much as $150,000.

The case broke last week when an 86-year-old woman was taken by ambulance to the hospital. She came home to find the man crouched on the floor.

“And he picked up a cushion and just held it in front of his face, walked to her, held it in front of her face so that … trying to hide his identity,” Skees said.

She managed to get a description that fit the security guard working that night.

“We then ran his pawn records, his pawn activity and came up with six pages of pawn activity in the last year,” Skees said.

Besides the security job, he worked for the IRS. Sgt. Skees said Kowalski’s motive was to keep up with his bills.

Providence Point released a statement thanking residents for a proactive response to the burglaries and the police department for solving the rash of thefts.

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