Woman recounts scare after man allegedly broke into her home and made tortillas
PHOENIX (FOX 10) -- According to court documents, a man has been charged with felony criminal trespassing after he allegedly entered a woman's home and made tortillas.
According to the documents, Jerry Christopher Drane was arrested at an apartment on the 4000 block of N. 53rd Lane, located near 51st Avenue and Indian School Road, on March 1. Officers were called to the area for a report of a residential burglary at around 7:17 p.m. According to one of the two women who live at the apartment, she was in her bedroom when she smelled burning in the kitchen. She went to the kitchen and saw Drane standing there, cooking tortillas on the top of the electric stove.
"My roommate told me he smelled something burning, so she went out here and found the guy cooking the tortilla right here," said Alex Herron, who lives at the apartment. Herron is hard of hearing, and was alerted by her roommate.
Eventually, the two women yelled at Drane to leave the apartment.
"I said to the man that you can take the food, whatever food you're making, can you please leave," said Herron.
Drane complied, but took a can of soup with him as he left and consumed the soup on the balcony in front of the apartment.
"While I was talking on the phone with 911, my roommate told me the man was trying really hard to get in the door, to try and open the door really hard," said Herron.
Court documents say officers detected an odor of alcohol in Drane's breath when he spoke, and he also had bloodshot, watery eyes, slurred speech, and was unable to stand straight up without swaying.
"He seemed pretty drunk the way he was walking. A little bit wobbly," said Herron.
"Frankly, sir, I can still smell alcohol on you right now. Someone who got really wildly intoxicated, went into somebody else's house and scared them half to death," said a presiding judge, during Drane's court appearance.
During a police interview, Drane said he did not remember what happened, and when asked where he was trying and who he was trying to see, he refused to say the people's names because he didn't them to "catch flak for this".
Drane, according to court documents, was booked into the 4th Avenue Jail, but was later released on his own recognizance. As a condition of his release from jail, Drane is legally barred from going to any part of the apartment complex where the incident happened. He is also legally barred from consuming alcohol.
Meanwhile, Herron said she is still spooked, but can laugh a little now.
"If there's one thing that's funny, I was planning to get rid of that can of soup, because I don't like the chowder anyway, but he ate it for me so! thank you for getting rid of it for me!" said Herron.