ORLANDO, Fla. – Orlando Police have issued an alert for a man they think is responsible for a string of occupied residential burglaries in Orange County.
Police said the man breaks in through windows, confronting his victims while most people are sleeping.
All of the break-ins have taken place near Semoran Boulevard and Curry Ford Road in the area of the Dovetail Villas and the Renaissance Apartments. Police think the suspect lives nearby.
"That's even worse because he could be your next door neighbor. You never know," said Nydsomi Rivera who has heard about the string of break-ins.
Local 6 profiled one victim last week at the Bowen Place Apartments who said police caught a man fitting that description after she spotted him staring through her window.
She asked we conceal her identity, but confirms the new composite sketches released by police resemble them man she saw. Her would-be burglar was Hispanic, in his 20s and was wearing a hat similar to the man seen in one of the sketches. However, after her incident, police arrived, took prints off her window and found footprints on the ground, and caught a man fitting the description later that night. The victim ID'd the suspect, but police were forced to let him go, citing a lack of evidence.
She said at the time, "It was just really scary how the police department would just pick him up. They had me identify him, I said that that was him. Why would they let him go?"
She also knew the man lived nearby, just like the suspect police are warning other women about now.
She said on Thursday, detectives called her asking for a better description of the man she saw and she tells Local 6, she's 90 percent sure the man they're after is the man who nearly broke into her house.
Police have not revealed how many occupied burglaries have been linked to the suspect but said once inside, he was bold enough to talk to his victims once confronted.
At this point, it appears no one has been hurt.