Racine police say a 39-year-old man is facing felony burglary charges after he broke into his ex-girlfriend’s house and stole her cell phone.
The man was charged Thursday in Racine County Circuit Court with a single felony count of burglary and one misdemeanor each of obstruction, criminal damage to property and disorderly conduct – domestic abuse. If convicted, he faces up to 14 years, three months in prison and/or up to $46,000 in fines.
Racine County Eye is not naming the man to protect the identity of the woman.
According to the criminal complaint, police were called at 1:38 a.m. Thursday to a home where a woman said she was awakened by an unknown reason and found her ex-boyfriend crouched at the end of her bed as if he was trying to hide from her. The woman said when she woke up she reached for her cell phone on the table next to her bed to check the time but couldn’t find it. When she turned on a lamp, she saw the man crouched at the end of her bed.
Police say the woman screamed and asked the man how he got into her house, and the man told her the door was open. She continued to scream at him until he left. When the woman still couldn’t find her cell phone, she walked to a nearby business to use their phone to call police.
The woman said she had been in a relationship with the man for four years and they’d broken up just this past June. This was not the first time the man contacted the woman, the complaint reads. He visited several times without permission and after being told he was not welcome at the woman’s home. He was even seen at local restaurants where the woman was eating.
When police located the man at a relative’s home, he was seen in the basement with a cell phone and when officers knocked on the door, he turned the light off as if to appear he wasn’t home. Officers say a relative answered the door and gave them access to the home so they could question the man about breaking into his ex-girlfriend’s house. Police noted in their report that the man had slurred speech and appeared intoxicated.
At first the man denied entering the woman’s home, but eventually admitted to going inside because he door was “ajar,” the complaint reads. The man said the woman started yelling at him so he left. He also denied having the woman’s cell phone, but when dispatch called the number, a phone in the room started ringing. It was found on top of the air ducts in the basement and was missing the screen.
The man was taken into custody without further incident and booked in the Racine County Jail where he remains on a $25,000 cash bond. He will next be in court August 27 for his preliminary hearing.