ATTLEBORO - A city Laundromat owner and former candidate for North Attleboro selectman pleaded innocent in Attleboro District Court Tuesday to tampering with a city water meter so his business could get water service without having to pay for it.

Steven R. Bankert, 49, the owner of Laundry World at 6 Falmouth St. in Attleboro, appeared in court on a summons and is free without bail.

Bankert, of 42 Pratt Lane in North Attleboro, faces charges of larceny of property valued at more than $250 and vandalizing a water meter.

The maximum penalty for the larceny charge is five years in prison and a $25,000 fine.

The vandalism charge carries a maximum one-year jail term and a $100 fine. City police executed a search warrant at Laundry World and County Square Laundromat at County Square and seized water meters last January when Bankert was in the midst of a campaign for selectman in North Attleboro.

Bankert, who has battled the North Attleboro conservation commission over a dock on Falls Pond, claimed politics was behind the water meter investigation.

Bankert was a candidate for North Attleboro selectman, but lost in the Feb. 12 preliminary election.

No charges were filed in connection with the water meter at County Square Laundromat after the investigation found no evidence of tampering.

Bankert has denied any wrongdoing and said he wrote to the city as far back as the spring of 2005 asking that his water meters be tested for accuracy.

Police, based on a report by the city's water department, estimated the city's loss at $3,500 to $5,225.

Bankert is due back in court May 23 for a pretrial conference.

DAVID LINTON can be reached at 508-236-0338 or at dlinton@thesunchronicle.com.