NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The North Adams Police Department is warning North Berkshire residents that a couple of home-improvement scammers are on the loose.

Police say two people posing as roofing contractors are telling homeowners that they've done work on their homes before. They gain access purportedly to check the house for any visible water leaks in the ceiling. One gets into the house with the owner, makes sure no one else is home, then asks the homeowner to walk around the exterior to survey for any roof damage

While the owner is occupied, the second scammer searches the house for cash and valuables.
 
Police report one victim to this scam in the North Adams area. The suspect who approached the victim used the name of Billy Wood. When he left the house, he got into the passenger side of a silver pickup truck with tinted windows driven by a second suspect.

Anyone with information about the scammers or who may have been approached by individuals offering a simiar story, is urged to contact their local police agency. Business numbers for county police departments can be found on the righthand side of the Blotter.

RICHMOND, Mass. — A 28-year-old man was struck and killed by a train in Richmond late Tuesday afternoon. The man's name had not yet been released pending notification of kin.

According to an eyewitness, it appeared that the man jumped in front of the moving train.    

State police detectives assigned to the district attorney's office, in charge of the investigation, say the CSX freight train struck the man about 4 p.m. in the vicinity of Town Beach Road. Dr. Benjamin Glick, a local state medical examiner, pronounced the man dead at the scene.  

State police investigators were assisted at the scene by state troopers from the Lee barracks, members of the Pittsfield Police Department and the Richmond Volunteer Fire Department.  

Update: Police on Wednesday afternoon released the man's name. He was Nicholas Van Alstine of Amesbury. He was strucked and killed by a CSX freight train. According to eyewitnesses, it appeared that Van Alstine jumped in front of the moving train, and investigators are treating his death as a suicide.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Kerry Columbus, Nicholas Kaiser, Trevor Manning and Brad Vivori were sworn in as permanent reserve officers at Tuesday's City Council meeting. A fifth officer, Jacquelyn Mason, was not able to attend.

The four officers were sworn in by City Clerk Marilyn Gomeau and pinned by Mayor Richard Alcombright. The mayor said the new reserves will help beef up the force which is down by six officers: two are serving overseas, two are out on injuries (suffered during bicycle training for a community policing program) and two are attending the academy.

 CLARKSBURG, Mass. — A smoky basement fire on Monday damaged a home on Middle Road not far from the town border with North Adams.

Firefighters from Clarksburg and Stamford, Vt., responded to an apparent electrical fire at 96 Middle Road at about 4:30. Witnesses said smoke could be seen pouring from the back of the building.

Emergency vehicles blocked the road for about an hour as they contained the blaze. Pumper trucks used the small pond across the street from the gray house to send water shooting into the back yard.

Firefighters had to cut through the back wall near the rear entrance to get to the blaze, which was doused within a half-hour. North Adams Ambulance also responded but no one was reported injured. No further information was immediately available.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Pittsfield Police say they recovered the body of an elderly man who they believe is 61-year-old Francis Rocca, an Alzheimer’s patient who left his Francis Avenue home on July 13.

Police said the body was discovered early Thursday afternoon with the help of a specially trained corpse-sniffing dog in a heavily wooded area off Turner Avenue near the west branch of the Housatonic River.

Police were waiting for an official ID on the body but based on clothing and jewelry found on the body, investigators believe the dead man is Rocca. An autopsy is scheduled for Friday at the state medical examiner's office in Holyoke. Police say the death does not appear suspicious and indicated Rocca had been dead for some time.

Rocca, a carpenter and a veteran, has been suffering from Alzheimer's for two years. He reportedly spit out his medication on the night he left his home. Police were also hoping to come upon Robert DeFreest with the help of the dog. DeFreest, a homeless man, hasn't been seen since June 2009.