"Woke up to a man standing over my bed:" Police need your help locating Terrance Thomas
MILWAUKEE -- Imagine waking up in the middle of the night and finding a strange man staring down at you. It happened to a woman on Milwaukee's East Side -- and police need your help locating the suspect, who has been charged with three counts of criminal trespassing.
Terrance Thomas
A warrant has been issued for the arrest of 39-year-old Terrance Thomas.
According to a criminal complaint, Thomas is accused of illegally entering three occupied homes in March and April on N. Marshall, E. Juneau, and N. Summit on the city's East Side.
The first incident happened on March 1st at an apartment on Marshall Avenue.
Teresa McCabe calls it the most terrifying moment of her life.
McCabe woke up to find Thomas "standing over her in her bedroom."
Teresa McCabe
"I woke up at about 5 in the morning to a man standing over my bed," McCabe said.
The woman asked Thomas who he was and how he got inside her apartment.
"He had, you know, shushed me and said, you know, 'you need to not say anything.' I asked him over and over again 'what are you doing in here?'" McCabe said.
The complaint indicates Thomas stated: "Give me a hug." The woman complied -- and then the two "engaged in an approximately 10-minute conversation." Thomas told the woman "he had just gotten out of prison and was on the run from the police."
"He at first had a very stern approach. He was telling me not to talk. He was shushing me, but then later he softened. He had sat down on my bed and said he was running from the police," McCabe said.
McCabe said she had accidentally left her key in her apartment door.
The complaint indicates Thomas eventually handed McCabe the keys, and asked her to walk him out of the apartment.
McCabe said he came back one week later.
"I talked to him through the door and I told him that he needed to leave. He had asked me to hang out and after that I called police," McCabe said.
Thomas is now charged with trespassing -- for three incidents that involved women who found Thomas in their homes between the hours of 3:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m.
"I would be scared to death!" Adidi Varshney said. "I have a kid and that's actually alarming. I would be locking the doors, and double checking in the middle of the night."
On April 8th, a woman living in an apartment on Summit Avenue in Milwaukee indicated "she was sitting in her living room when she heard a noise coming from the kitchen. The complaint indicated the woman spotted Thomas and he stated, "Is Steve here?" After that, Thomas apparently left the residence.
In an incident on April 9th, Thomas allegedly walked into an apartment on Juneau Ave. A woman living in the apartment woke up and saw Thomas. She stated, "'You need to leave' but the defendant ignored her.'" Thomas apparently "mumbled something (the woman) could not understand, then stepped back into the hallway" and left the residence.
In each these cases, the victims were not injured and no items were stolen.
FOX6 News spoke with a man on the East Side on Tuesday, May 3rd who said he once saw Thomas climbing through a window in his building's laundry room.
If convicted on all three charges filed in this case, Thomas faces up to 27 months behind bars.
Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call Milwaukee Police District One at 414-935-7211.