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ST. PAUL, Minn. (KMSP) - Marjorie Okerstrom called a recent event that took place at her home a "complete violation."
“When we got home, I felt so sick to my stomach,” she said. “It’s just unsettling.”
She said that during her family’s recent vacation up north, an intruder removed the air conditioning unit and climbed through her child’s first floor bedroom window before making himself at home.
“He ate food,” she said. “There was a pile of dishes in my house.”
In addition to the alleged mess he left in the kitchen, he also slept in several of their beds, watched TV and smoked. This happened twice while they were gone.
The first time, the man was startled by a family friend checking on the Okerstrom’s house and then after spending a night in jail, he returned.
During that uninvited visit, Okerstrom’s nephew, who lives in a separate unit up on the third floor, startled the man while he slept. He took off through the bedroom window that now has bars across it.
In the process, he left behind his wallet and driver’s license. Fox 9 has chosen not to publicly identify him.
“Regardless if someone is violent or not, you shouldn’t be allowed to walk into your home and repeatedly come back and come back and come back,” Okerstrom said.
She was shocked to learn the suspect was also arrested recently for a similar break-in about a mile away.
Despite St. Paul Police efforts to have the man charged with a crime like burglary, the Ramsey County Attorney’s Office ruled the man’s actions did not rise to a felony-level offense, likely because it did not appear he stole anything.
It is now up to the St. Paul City Attorney to file lower level misdemeanor charges against him.
In the meantime, he is out of jail and the Okerstroms and their neighbors are on guard, since he’s been in the area the last few days with sightings shared between members of a shared online crime watch app.
“It’s hard to live our lives without being worried that he is gonna come back,” Okerstrom said.