By MES Dispatch Staff
The Briefing
- A man broke into a San Diego home through an open upstairs window while homeowners Dante Rowley and Stephanie Calderon were traveling, according to security footage Rowley shared with the Los Angeles Times.
- The couple’s golden retriever, Nash, repeatedly approached the intruder with toys rather than acting as a deterrent, while a second dog left through a pet door.
- The man spent more than an hour inside the home, appearing to nap and eat food from the refrigerator, before San Diego police arrived.
- Officers surrounded the home, called for the man to exit and deployed a drone to search for him before he was arrested.
- San Diego police did not identify the suspect or respond to questions from the Times; Rowley said nothing was stolen and the only damage was some broken outdoor pots.
SAN DIEGO — A man who broke into a San Diego home while the homeowners were away was arrested after more than an hour inside, during which the couple’s golden retriever repeatedly tried to play with him rather than deter him, according to security footage shared with the Los Angeles Times.
Homeowners Dante Rowley and Stephanie Calderon were traveling back from Chicago during a heat wave when the man scaled their fence, retrieved a ladder and entered through an open upstairs window, according to footage Rowley shared with the Times. The incident was first reported by NBC 7 San Diego.
Of the couple’s two dogs, one exited through a doggy door while the other, a golden retriever named Nash, approached the intruder multiple times with toys in his mouth, tail wagging. “Our dog tried to play with him,” Rowley said. “He’s super friendly.” The man never engaged with Nash, according to the footage.
The man rested, ate food from the refrigerator and talked to himself for more than an hour, even as police arrived, surrounded the home, called for him to come out and sent a drone inside to search for him, the footage showed. Rowley and Calderon watched much of the incident unfold in real time through their home security system while traveling. “We just think he was trying to get out of the heat,” Rowley said.
The man was arrested about an hour after police arrived, according to the footage. San Diego police did not identify the suspect or respond to questions from the Times. Rowley said nothing was stolen from the home and the only damage was some broken outdoor pots.