BUTLER TWP — A furnace repairman already facing trial on charges he failed to perform work he was paid to do is again accused of the same crime.

Alex M. Kocko, 46, of Lyndora in the latest case was paid $3,900 in May 2011 to buy and install a furnace at a woman’s home on Brownsdale Road in Butler Township.

Kocko, who owns an at-home business, A.K. Heating and Sheet Metal, however, did no work, according to court documents.

The alleged victim, Patricia Hartzell, told investigators that she left 16 telephone messages with the suspect between Sept. 3 and Nov. 17, but with no success in getting the furnace installed.

Butler County detectives last week charged Kocko with felony theft by deception.

Butler police in January charged him with misdemeanor theft by deception stemming from money he took for a job that he never did.

The defendant in that earlier case was paid $1,300 in December 2010 to install a furnace at a Mitchell Avenue house owned by Ginmar Inc. of East Butler, a real estate and rental company.

Gina Klopfer, the company’s general manager, said Kocko agreed to start the project in January 2011.

But by early April 2011, there still was no work done, and Klopfer called Kocko, who promised the project would get going within 30 days, court documents said.

The new timetable came and went with no movement on the furnace installation, police said.

Kocko’s trial in that case in currently pending in Butler County Court. He remains free on his own recognizance, court records showed.

The Butler Eagle could not reach him for comment for this story.