Woman’s Screams Frighten Intruder

Port Hueneme police are looking for a man who may have planned to burglarize a Jane Drive apartment late Tuesday morning before a mother’s screams chased him away.

Shortly after 11 a.m., the woman was changing her children’s clothes in an upstairs bedroom when she heard the front door open.

The woman said she first thought it was a neighbor she had been expecting.

But she received no response when she called out her neighbor’s name, so she ran down the stairs to check on her 8-month-old daughter, who was in a swing in the living room.

“I was halfway down the stairs and my heart started pounding and my stomach was sick,” said the mother of six. “Then I saw this man standing over my daughter. I never saw him before.

“I couldn’t come down the stairs fast enough, then yelled and screamed at him to get out,” she said.

The man is described as about 5-foot-1, stocky and in his late 20s or early 30s. He was wearing black pants and a white or gray T-shirt.

The woman said she usually keeps her door locked but had left it open for her neighbor.

Port Hueneme police said no actions indicated a kidnapping attempt.

“We know he entered the residence, but we have no idea why he came in,” Sgt. Ken Dobbe said.

Although nothing was missing from the house, Dobbe said he plans to treat it as an attempted burglary.

The intruder should be considered dangerous, Dobbe said.

Anyone with information should call Crime Stoppers at 385-TALK. Police are offering a reward of up to $1,000.