SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Santa Clara County prosecutors announced Monday that a man convicted of burglarizing the homes of more than two dozen elderly San Jose residents while posing as a water company employee has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.

David Milano, 40, and a number of associates burglarized the homes of approximately 30 San Jose residents in 2007, according to Deputy District Attorney Cherie Bourlard.

"There were probably more (victims) in other parts of the county, the state," Bourlard said.

Milano and his cohorts would pose as water company employees and tell their elderly victims that they needed access to the victims' backyards because of a broken water pipe. While he distracted the victims, his associates would burglarize the residence, according to the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office.

Bourlard reminds residents not to allow anyone representing a company to have access to their homes without a prescheduled appointment.

Anyone suspecting that someone asking to enter a home is not who they say they are should call local police immediately.