A Pittsburgh-area man heard something strange inside his home. Turns out, it was a solicitor.
SHALER TOWNSHIP, Pa. (KDKA) — Neighbors in one Shaler Township neighborhood are nervous after a salesman walked into a home without permission.
It was all caught on the homeowner's doorbell camera.
"You ring, you knock," homeowner Cole Constantino said. "If no one answers, you leave. You don't enter the house."
It was in the middle of the day on Monday when Constantino said he was standing in his kitchen and heard a strange noise. When he checked it out, he saw a stranger standing in the vestibule.
"Your heart drops a little bit and you're wondering, how should I react right now? And I'm thinking maybe this is a neighbor in distress, not a stranger," Constantino said.
The video from his doorbell camera shows the salesman getting dropped off in front of his house. He then knocked on the door and rang the doorbell before letting himself in.
Constantino said the door was unlocked because an HVAC worker was going in and out.
"He started just trying to sell me security right off the bat, which was ironic, and blasting off information about random stuff before I could jump in and say no thank you, get out," Constantino said.
He said the salesperson was wearing a Vivint Home Security shirt and did have identification. When Shaler Township police were notified of the incident, they found it is based out of Utah.
"They do not have a permit in the Township of Shaler," Shaler Township Police Lt. David Benko said. "So we made the proper contacts and advised them they must get a permit or they cannot solicit within the Township of Shaler."
Benko said because the company does not have a permit and the salesperson crossed the threshold of Constantino's home, this became a chargeable offense.
"Please don't be afraid to call 911," Benko said.
He added that the township has a no-knock list that solicitors are required to have with them. Contact the township to get on that list.
