A Ridgefield couple was startled recently when they awoke to an intruder in their master bathroom.
They were even more startled to discover he was wearing a bra and applying the woman’s mascara to his face.
The intruder, Dustin Wayne Schroeder, 34, was sentenced Monday to five months in jail after pleading guilty to residential burglary. The burglary occurred July 10 at a home in the 20600 block of Northwest Krieger Road.
The woman who lives there had awakened at 6:30 a.m. and headed to the bathroom, where she saw the stranger applying her makeup, said Senior Deputy Prosecutor Tonya Rulli. He was wearing a fitted turquoise top over a bra, a black skirt or shorts and pink socks.
The homeowner slammed the bathroom door and alerted her husband, who confronted the intruder.
Schroeder ran from the house and was detained nearby. He was carrying a container filled with clothing, including pantyhose.
“He dropped some clothes as he was going,” Rulli said.
When questioned by Clark County sheriff’s deputies, Schroeder admitted to entering the house, putting on mascara and also shaving.
He also confessed to trying to pilfer a bumblebee costume.
Rulli said the couple were understandably shaken.
The couple did not attend Monday’s hearing.
“If they were here, I would say I was sorry,” Schroeder told Clark County Superior Court Judge Scott Collier.
Schroeder told the judge that he is a drug addict and he didn’t know he was breaking into a stranger’s home — he said he thought it was the home of someone he knew.
According to court papers, he had consumed methamphetamine on the evening prior to the burglary.
Collier recommended drug and alcohol counseling for Schroeder, who is listed as homeless and unemployed. Schroeder’s last known address is in Las Vegas.
Schroeder told the judge he planned to move back to Nevada upon his release from jail.
He received credit for 34 days served in the Clark County Jail.
Laura McVicker: www.twitter.com/col_courts; www.facebook.com/reportermcvicker; laura.mcvicker@columbian.com; 360-735-4516.
