Affidavit: Woman broke into home to escape a ‘ghost’
A California woman was arrested last week after breaking into a Las Vegas home while two residents were inside. The woman admitted to breaking in through a window, but said she was trying to get away from a ghost.
Julie A. Lane, 31, of Tustin, California, is charged with felony breaking and entering. She was booked into the San Miguel County Detention Center just after midnight on July 14.
Officers with the Las Vegas Police Department responded to a burglary call at a home on East Drive, behind the Love’s Travel Stop, around 9 p.m. July 13.
When officers arrived, Lane was outside sitting on a swing, not wearing any pants, according to a criminal complaint filed in San Miguel Magistrate Court.
A man and a woman at the house told police they’d been in bed watching television when they heard a series of loud noises outside, followed by the sound of glass breaking, according to the complaint.
The man retrieved a handgun and a flashlight and followed the noise to the kitchen where he found Lane climbing into the home through a window.
The man pushed Lane out the window, but said she continued to attempt to enter his home, and that she said “zombies” were coming, according to the complaint. The man told police he fired one shot into the ground outside the window, and that Lane ran toward the front of the home.
Lane admitted to police that she’d tried to enter the house through the kitchen window, telling an officer, “I saw a ghost and was trying to get away from it, so I broke a window and a man pointed a gun at me,” according to the complaint.
LVPD officers found broken glass in the kitchen, along with several bags and articles of clothing that belonged to Lane.
During a July 15 hearing, Judge Melanie Rivera set bond for Lane at $1,000. She remained in custody at SMCDC as of this writing.
Lane has been in Las Vegas for two months, according to court documents, and Judge Rivera noted that Lane has an “extensive” criminal history in California, including grand theft, burglary, battery and other charges.
Lane is scheduled to appear in Magistrate Court on July 27 for a preliminary hearing.
