Billerica man pleads not guilty to stealing medications from home

Robert Bernoth

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LOWELL -- Police say a plumber's apprentice who helped fix a leak in a Billerica home used a forgotten tool as an excuse to return to the home and steal pain medications belonging to a woman confined to a wheelchair.

In Lowell District Court on Wednesday, Robert Bernoth, 21, of 29 Pines Road, Billerica, was released on personal recognizance after pleading not guilty to larceny from a building and entering a dwelling by false pretense for a felony.

Bernoth was ordered to stay away from and have not contact with the victims, and to stay away from their home.

Billerica police allege in court documents that on April 4, they responded to a Williams Road home where they spoke to the daughter, 43, who is battling cancer and is the primary caretaker for her mother, 69, who is confined to a wheelchair.

The victim said when a pipe in her laundry room sprung a leak, she contacted a local plumber to fix it. The plumber arrived with Bernoth, a plumber's apprentice, made the repairs and left.

The next day, the victim told police Bernoth showed up, saying he forgot a tool in the laundry room. When the victim followed Bernoth to the laundry room, he went in and shut the door, leaving the victim outside the room.

The victim thought that was odd, so she turned the light on and opened the door to find Bernoth allegedly holding a handful of her mother's old medication that she had been stockpiling in a small jar for destruction at the next prescription-drug turn-in program.

When the victim confronted Bernoth, he apologized, begged her not to tell his boss and put some of the pills back in the jar. Afterward the victim noticed that 50-70 pills were missing.

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Billerica man pleads not guilty to stealing medications from home