He loved the house. And he really wanted to live there. So 43-year-old Pennsylvania resident Frederick Harris (pictured on right) went down the traditional route for house hunting – scheduling a tour of the vacant upscale digs (worth $500,000 to $600,000) with the real estate agent. But after his tour, Harris apparently wanted an opportunity to take his own little private tour in the near future. He pressed hard for the agent to turn over the joint's keys to him, acting "extremely anxious" to get his grubby little paws on them. But nothin' doing on that front, as the agent broke Harris' half court press at the top of the "key."
And it probably didn't help his efforts that Harris reportedly wore gloves during the April tour. Having been rebuffed at the front door, Harris allegedly took things into his own little gloved hands, since no one (allegedly) was going to keep him from his dream home.
First on the agenda, allegedly, was to ward off other potential buyers of the home: Cops say Harris yanked the "For Sale" right out the home's front yard. But why let a perfectly good real estate sign go to waste?
Instead of tossing it into the rubbish bin as you might expect him to do, Harris allegedly put the sign to constructive use by converting it into a makeshift burglary device. Cops say Harris used the sign to bash in a window at the home and broke in. (And to think, this all could have been averted if that pesky agent had just turned over the damn keys!)
Now was this your typical (alleged) burglary in which Harris was interested in lifting some resalable fixtures from the joint (which was apparently vacant)? Are you crazy? This is the man's dream home (allegedly)!!! Why would he want to damage or defile it?!?
Nope. Harris allegedly did the only thing you would expect of an enamored house hunter: He moved in and took to squattin’ in that crib (allegedly)! Cops says Harris lived in the house as if it was his own for days, stocking up the fridge and parking his Chevy out in the garage. "He basically was making a home there," said the local police chief.
Things reportedly headed south for this loopy home lover when the home's caretaker noticed the car in the garage and the proverbial "strange man" milling around inside the house. Busted! The caretaker called the cops, who entered the home with one of those bloodhound sniff dogs, named Argos.
Apparently trying to put the pooch and the cops off his scent, Harris allegedly hit the button to open the garage door – I'm presuming in hopes that Argos and his blue masters would scurry out the joint thinking that Harris had escaped. But regardless of what you think of cops in general, they typically aren't stupid.
They didn't go for Harris' apparent little attempt at subterfuge (Winston Wolf, this dude was not) and looked to secure the house before looking into the possibility that Harris had fled. Argos and the cops reportedly found Harris huddled down inside the shithouse. No word whether he had his gloves on at the time.
Harris' story to the cops was pretty garden variety – said he had a right to be there and that he was "working" with the real estate agent to possibly buy the house. Well, Harris ain't buying this house, and cops weren't buying his line a' bullshit (allegedly).
Now Harris "has been removed to a more Spartan home: the Westmoreland County Prison," facing charges of burglary, criminal trespass and criminal mischief.
Meantime local cops are apparently baffled by the whole incident. The aforementioned police chief, Thomas Seefeld, candidly revealed to the media that this is a very "unusual case."
But the revelations did not stop there. Providing an insider's glimpse into the way the cops really view this case, Seefeld added: "Usually people pay money when they buy a home and move in."
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_731217.html#
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