A Scranton woman who was leaving to get pizza just after midnight Tuesday saw a man trying to force his way into her North Main Avenue home and called police.
Responding officers learned the man left the area and were provided with his description. Officers detained Gene Gantz, 33, who matched the description provided.
Police spoke with Janiah Lomas, who said she left from the back of her residence to drive to Domino’s when she noticed a man on her porch attempting to push open one of her windows.
When the man, later identified as Gantz, spotted her, he began to walk away slowly from the porch.
She then drove to the Domino’s parking lot, noting that the man seemed to be following her, walking north on North Main Avenue.
Lomas returned home and called police.
Officers transported Lomas to where they detained Gantz, who was standing in a lighted area. She identified him as the man she saw on her porch.
Lomas later told Officer John Cantafio she had no idea who Gantz was and that she had never seen him around the area prior to the incident.
Cantafio photographed two windows accessible from the porch. He noted both screens had been pushed in and there were handprints and scuff marks on the windows and windowsills.
Lomas said she never uses the front porch and that both window screens had been down and she had never attempted to push them open.
Gantz is charged with burglary, stalking and prowling by night. He remains at the Lackawanna County Prison in lieu of $100,000 bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for 11 a.m. on May 27 before District Judge Alyce Farrell.