Stranger repeatedly breaks into home to watch 9-year-old girl sleep, PA mom says
A Pennsylvania man is accused of breaking into a family’s home and watching their 9-year-old daughter sleep, police told news outlets.
Christmas Eve marked the fourth time the stranger broke into the house, Tiffany Szabara told WPVI. Home surveillance video spotted him, a hooded figure passing through the kitchen and heading upstairs to the bedroom of Szabara’s daughter.
Police in Coatesville launched an investigation, and in a Dec. 24 Facebook post, turned to the public for help identifying the man.
Sometimes he just watched her sleep, she told WTXF, and other times he tried talking to her.
“The first thing he said to her was, ‘Would you go with me?’ She said, ‘No, I’m not stupid. Get out of my house,” Szabara told the station.
The stranger, later identified as Jefferson Mejia Gonzalez, turned himself in to police on Dec. 27, the department said in a news release.
Szabara had been in fear for her daughter’s safety for months, she said, recalling a night in September she woke up to police arriving at her home after neighbors had noticed the back door knocked off its hinges, and a stranger wandering the property, WTXF reported.
On another occasion, the man sneaked into the home through a window, Szabara told WPVI.
“I even had cash on the counter one day, and he didn’t touch the cash. He just goes into my daughter’s bedroom,” Szabara told the station.
Investigators have not said what motivated Gonzalez to return to the home and approach Szabara’s daughter, but police say he is facing multiple charges including burglary, criminal trespass, interference with custody of children, criminal mischief, harassment and stalking.
Coatesville is roughly 40 miles west of Philadelphia.
Pregnant 18-year-old’s body likely found in car in ‘possible murder,’ Texas police say
Man shoots good Samaritan who tried to help him at scene of crash, Michigan cops say
Accused child predator pretended to be ‘vigilante’ combating child porn ring, feds say
Mom sees laser pointing into car before son gets shot in head, Oklahoma family says
