She may have been wearing flip-flops, but Brittney Slagle wasn't going to let a suspected burglar get away with her computer and purse.
Slagle, a Ball State University junior, said she was getting ready to take her roommate to Bracken Library on Tuesday when they saw a man, later identified by Muncie police as Thomas Miller, walking through the alley behind their house.
"He was looking at my roommate's car, which we found kind of creepy," she said. "He said, 'I'm just cutting through.'"
Slagle said when she returned a few minutes later, the back door to her house in the 1300 block of Washington Street was open.
"When I got to my house, I ran inside to see what he had taken," she said. "I saw that my laptop was gone. I was sick to my stomach. I ran outside. I asked him not to take my computer, and he took off."
Slagle said she chased after the suspect and called 911 to report a burglary.
"He had my credit card and my IDs that were in my purse. I had my whole life in there," she said. "There was a split second, while the phone was ringing with the police, I thought 'I really hope he doesn't turn around and shoot me.'"
Slagle said she reported the burglary, and police came a few minutes later asking her to come identify a suspect.
Sgt. Mike Engle of the Muncie Police Department said officers found Miller at the corner of University and Greenwood avenues trying to get on a MITS bus. Police found the missing laptops, Slagle's purse, a camera and an iPod hidden behind a nearby bush, Engle said. None of the belongings were damaged.
Slagle said she identified Miller at the scene as the man she saw in her house.
"He claimed he had walked by the house, but it was another man inside the house," she said. "His cigarettes were on the front porch and his finger prints were on the house."
Engle said police arrested Miller on preliminary charges of burglary, a Class B felony, and theft/possession of stolen property, a Class D felony.
Delaware County Jail was holding Miller without bond as of Wednesday evening, jail officials said.
This wasn't Miller's first brush with law enforcement.
According to court documents, Miller was charged with conversion, a Class A misdemeanor, on April 3, and he has an initial hearing set for June 8.
In April 2008, he was sentenced to 18 months in jail, with another 18 months suspended sentence, after being convicted of two counts of receiving stolen property, a Class D felony.
Miller has also been charged with Class A misdemeanors in two cases: a possession of marijuana charge in 2007 and an invasion of privacy charge in 2006, according to court documents.
Under Indiana Law, if Miller is charged and convicted of a burglary charge, he could face between six and 20 years in prison. Class D felony convictions carry sentences between six months and three years.
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