Man arrested after breaking into several Springfield homes naked
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3) - A man is in the Greene County Jail after police say he broke into several Springfield homes... naked and tried to assault several people this weekend.
KY3 spoke with a woman who says the man was standing next to her bed when she woke up Sunday. She didn’t want to go on camera because she was still processing what happened. The man took off, and police caught up with him a couple of doors down from her.
Neighbors in the Rountree Neighborhood are saying that they’re disgusted but not shocked. One even said the neighborhood used to be safe and now, because of situations like these, they’re moving.
“I don’t really feel safe anymore,” said Rountree resident Travis Williams. “We’ve lived in this neighborhood for a few years now, and we’ve just seen a steady decline. To be honest with you, we’re kind of afraid for our safety here. We don’t leave the front door open anymore. And we’re looking to get out of here as soon as we can. Actually, we’re looking for a place right now.”
In a Facebook post, one of the people whose house was broken into says she woke up to a man in her bedroom naked, that’s when she says he attempted to assault her, but she was able to get away. Springfield police say it wasn’t just one house.
“There has been an arrest, and we are aware of similar incidents that are currently under investigation as well,” said Springfield Police Lieutenant Annesha Umbarger.
Lt. Umbarger says there are a few things you can and should do to make sure something like this doesn’t happen to you.
“A lot of these crimes are a crime of opportunity,” said Umbarger. “And the easiest way is to prevent that from happening in the first place by like I said, going around making good habits of checking doors, windows, you know, all hours of the day, if you’re going to leave your home, a lot of people like to keep their doors and windows locked when they are at home. And even more so when you go to bed.”
People living in the area, like Williams, say they do.
“It makes me angry,” said Williams. “It makes me look over my shoulder a lot more than I used to. I make sure my doors in my house are locked.”
The man who is accused of this is being held in the Greene County Jail in lieu of a $250,000 bond.
If you have any more information about this case, contact police or Crimestoppers.
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