An Ocala man who claimed he was being “chased” was arrested after breaking into a home early Monday morning, Marion County sheriff’s officials said.
Erick Russell Miller, 31, was taken into custody and charged with armed burglary of a dwelling. He was being held at the Marion County jail on a $10,000 bond.
A female resident of the home, located in the 9600th block of SW 32nd Court in Ocala, told deputies she heard noises in the living room around 2 a.m. She said she armed herself with a gun and went to investigate. A short time later, the woman told deputies, she spotted Miller and told him not to move. But he fled through the front door of the home, she said.
The woman also told deputies that kitchen knives were scattered throughout the house and that a stack of change was left on the front patio.
After deputies arrived and started interviewing the victims, neighbors reported seeing a suspicious man nearby. Deputies quickly responded and located Miller, who had two knives in his possession that were taken during the burglary, sheriff’s officials said.
Deputies said that Miller admitted to breaking into the home and removing the change from his pockets before entering the house because the coins were making too much noise.
Once inside the home, Miller told deputies, he drank a bottle of water, gathered weapons to protect himself and removed all the lights from power outlets so he could hide from “the people who were chasing him.” Deputies added that Miller, who displayed forms of paranoid behavior, couldn’t give them any names or descriptions of those supposedly involved.