Long Beach — residence were on edge when a trespasser, a young Hispanic male in his late teens or early 20’s, got on to the property of two complexes knocking on doors asking several tenants, “can I come in and charge my phone?” No one knew who he was or where he had come from, or what he was capable of. One tenant stated, “I saw him walking up and down the street, like he was pacing.” He went on to say, “He sat down behind my wife’s car and just fell back on his backpack and was out for a few minutes, then jumped up and started walking up and down the street again. He’s clearly high on something.”
The trespasser managed to lie his way on to one complex property saying he used to live there, but was kicked out. The tenant who lived at one of the upper units overlooking the street let him into the complex believing his story. He made his way to the back door of one units where the tenant lived who saw him pacing the block, knocking on their back door shortly after the manager of the complex property spotted him as he passed her front door. His wife, who thought it to be strange that someone would be knocking on their back door, opened the door, “can I help you?” Totally shocked to see this man standing at their back door about to plow his way in, “can I come in and charge my phone?” Holding his phone and charger in hand ready to just walk on in. “I’m sorry, NO, you can’t come in here.” He had not counted on her husband immediately coming to the back door running him away. “No, man you can’t come in here!!!” He backed up down the steps mumbling under his breath, walking away from their back door. Upon checking on his location, he was found sitting on a neighbor’s back door step, then he managed to plug his charger into the plug where the washer and dryer was housed.
The manager found him and chased him away from the area, but he wouldn’t leave right away until she had to force him out after calling the police. He left and went next door to the bungalow apartments knocking on tenants doors asking the same thing, “can I come in to charge my phone?” It frightened some of the tenants that this strange man was randomly knocking on their door. Tenants affected by him from that complex called the police as well. He came back trying to get back into the complex he was previously in, but the gate was locked tight and the manager was standing guard at the entrance telling him she called the police and he’d better go away, instead he went shouting up and down the block.
The police arrived ten minutes after the ordeal. He was located, hand cuffed and taken into custody. The tenant, whom the trespasser knocked on the back door of their apartment, told the police their encounter with the young man. The officer stated they were familiar with who he was going on to say he lived in the neighborhood but further up and over some blocks. They indentified that he had done this sort of thing before, and was clearly high on something, but declined to say what it was exactly after they searched him and put him into their squad car. Their first intent was to find something they could arrest him on. The only things they could more than likely hold him on or charge him with would be trespassing and being high on an illegal substance, or charge him for trespassing, disturbing the peace, and probably possession of carrying an illegal substance if one was found on him, and nothing more. No one was injured in the process.
The Diamond Press 