A homeless man broke into a Scranton residence on Sunday and fell asleep on the floor, according to a criminal complaint.
At about 10 a.m. on Monday, city police were called to 630 Jefferson Ave. for the report of a burglary.
When police arrived, they spoke with Ismail Paktik, who said he received a notification from one of the cameras at the site that someone had broken into the apartment building.
According to a criminal complaint:
Officer Patrick Debiase viewed the footage and spotted a man breaking into the residence at about 7 p.m. on Sunday by first breaking a window and then unlocking the door.
Officers then viewed footage of a man, later identified as Paul Rowe, 46, inside the residence, which showed him making his way up to the second floor of the building.
Additional footage showed Rowe leaving the building at 7 a.m. the next morning.
Paktik told officers Rowe took a mattress from the closet and had slept on the floor.
Officers found a blue bag on the floor of the room where Rowe had slept containing paperwork from a medical visit at Regional Hospital on Monday that contained identifying information.
Officers went to Regional Hospital in an effort to identify Rowe and found him asleep in the emergency room.
Rowe admitted having broken into the Jefferson Avenue residence and was wearing the same clothing as the man officers had observed in the video footage.
Officers found a hypodermic needle along with a pink plastic bag of suspected meth in Rowe’s jacket pocket.
He admitted to officers he was a meth user.
He is charged with felony trespass, possession of a controlled substance, possession of paraphernalia and vandalism.
He remains at Lackawanna County Prison in lieu of $15,000 bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 10:15 a.m. on Nov. 18 before District Judge Laura Turlip.