Rep. Cale Keable broke his tenant’s door, bothered teenage resident

Representative Cale Keable, chairman of the House judiciary committee and a landlord in Burrillville, damaged his tenant’s door in an attempt to gain entry against the tenants’ will.

“The incident that occurred over the weekend between my wife and I and one of our tenants is regrettable,” Keable said in a prepared statement. He declined to speak directly to a reporter about the incident.

The tenant, Kerri Pratt, said she asked Burrillville Police for a restraining order and for breaking and entering charges to be filed against Keable and his wife, who was also there. “I want criminal charges brought against him,” she said. “Because of who he is no one will do anything about it.”

Pratt’s teenage son caught the incident on video:

“When the door would not open, I believed it was jammed,” Keable said in his statement. “Once I realized what had occurred, I pulled the door closed and contacted the Burrillville Police Department.” In the video he says, “I leaned into it by mistake.” The teenager mocks Keable for this assertion on video.

At one point in the video, Keable’s wife says to the minor, “You have to know your mother is mentally ill?”

Keable, a Democrat and a member of Speaker Nick Mattiello’s leadership team, says he sent a letter to Pratt asking to show the apartment on Saturday because she is moving. Pratt says she told Keable’s wife in a text that Saturday was unworkable for her.

“I have no problem with her showing the apartment, but I need to be home,” Pratt said. I have two young children, they can’t come in when they are there alone.”

Pratt said Keable and his wife have “are bullies.” Keable said, “My wife handles most interactions with our tenants. I accompanied her Saturday morning because we were expecting difficulty based on two years of incidents where access to Ms. Pratt’s apartment has been difficult for repairs and mandated fire inspections.”

Keable said, “Going forward, I will rely on my attorneys to ensure Ms. Pratt’s move is accomplished as amicably as possible and do not plan on showing the apartment to prospective tenants until she moves out at the end of the month.”

Burillville police declined to immediately comment.