Palm Bay man confronts attempted burglar

PALM BAY, Fla. — A father confronted a man who he said tried to break into his home while his 14-year-old daughter was home alone.

“She was scared the person (was) coming through the back window,” neighbor Juliet Campbells aid.

The attempted burglary happened Saturday on Arcot Circle, Palm Bay police said.

A 14-year-old girl was home alone when she saw a man trying to open the windows of her home, police said. Shortly after the attempted break-in, her father returned home.

“When we got home, my youngest daughter came outside and she said, ‘Someone tried to get in the house,' and she described who the person was. So, I had ran down the street and I saw him. And I confronted him about trying to break into my house,” Kenya Moore said.

Moore told Channel 9's Melonie Holt that he dragged the attempted burglar, Michael O'Leary, 32, into his home, where he told the suspect to wait for police.

When questioned, O’Leary told police he was looking for landscaping work, investigators said.

Moore told Eyewitness News he had heard O’Leary’s story once before when he was spotted hanging around his residence at least three times in the past.

“Thank God that we finally caught him so he could get, you know, arrested and get off the street so he doesn't have to do that anymore,” Moore said.

O’Leary remains in the Brevard County Jail.

Cox Media Group