MOUNT VERNON — “What’cha you doing?” was the question Don Yauger yelled when he surprised a man in his home at 105 N. Gay St. on Wednesday afternoon. Yauger told the News he had returned home from a late lunch with a friend, and found the back door to his apartment open.
Yauger said that when he walked inside his home, he saw a man coming out of the study. The man ran through the house and out the back door. Yauger said he ran after the man, yelling at him to stop. The man ran out the back door and between houses, but Yauger said he had seen enough for a good description.
He told the News he called Mount Vernon Police, and dispatchers radioed the man’s description to patrol cars. Officers converged downtown and quickly spotted the man fitting the description given to police by Yauger. After a short search, the man was found in the walkway beside the building at 15 E. Vine St.
Yauger told the News the man didn’t take anything from his house, but when Yauger went into the study, he found the handle on the safe was cut off and a pair of hedge trimmers on the floor.
Police detective Craig Feeney said the case has been turned over to Knox County Prosecutor John Thatcher. The man’s name will be released if he is charged.
