A New Mexico burglar made himself at home during a recent break-in at a stranger’s house — cooking himself a meal of noodles and hot chocolate before he was arrested.
Tommy Lee Lucero, 44, was found on Saturday by officers from the Dona Ana Sheriff’s Office inside a desert home in Chaparral, a small community just over the Texas border outside of El Paso.
The woman who lives at the house had returned from school around 6:00 p.m. when she discovered Lucero hanging out in her bedroom, according to a criminal complaint obtained by KFOX.
After screaming “Get the **** out of my house!” she bolted and ran to the home of a nearby relative to call the police.
Lucero was still at the house when officers arrived to arrest him, and the woman was brought back to check through the home to see if anything was amiss — which she found to be the case.
Lucero had apparently cooked up a bowl of ramen noodles, made some hot chocolate, and fixed himself some leftovers from the refrigerator, according to the complaint.
He also emptied food out of the fridge and pantry, bagged it, and tossed it into both the yard and laundry room.
Inside the bags of food thrown outside were photos belonging to the woman that had been “torn into small pieces,” the complaint read, along with some framed photos that were still intact.
Lucero also allegedly moved a number of men’s shower products from a guest bathroom into the master bathroom and removed the woman’s products from the shower.
Besides that, he’d swiped ten pairs of her shoes and kicked his own off to try on a pair of them. He also allegedly took some cash she’d left lying around.
When police confronted Lucero, he told them that he owned the house and that he shared it with his girlfriend, who he said he had been dating since preschool.
The suspect is being held on bond with charges of burglary and concealing identity, KFOX reported.
