A husband and wife in The Villages were terrified when they were awakened in the wee hours and the husband found an intruder in their home.
The couple had been asleep in their home in the Village of Pine Ridge at about 4 a.m. Monday when they were awakened by the sound of the garage door opening, according to an arrest report from the Fruitland Park Police Department. The husband got of a bed to investigate the situation.
He entered the laundry room and found 37-year-old Barry Ray Wilbanks of Wildwood, who was “rummaging through his wife’s purse,” according to the report. The husband confronted Wilbanks who retreated into the garage and attempted to get into the couple’s vehicle. The husband yelled at Wilbanks, who fled on foot.
The wife had called 911 and officers were dispatched to the neighborhood.
A second woman in the Village of Pine Ridge also called 911 after she viewed her video surveillance and saw Wilbanks, who had climbed on top of her air conditioning unit and was trying to get onto her roof. Wilbanks was apprehended by police after a brief foot chase. He said he did not know where he was going and did not know where he was at.
The husband from the home invasion positively identified Wilbanks as the man who had broken into his home.
Wilbanks was arrested on charges of attempted burglary, trespassing and loitering. He was booked at the Lake County Jail on $4,000 bond.
Wilbanks was arrested in 2021 after allegedly punching his father. Wilbanks had been arrested in 2018 in another family dispute. He served time in prison after that arrest and was released Dec. 31, 2019.