CLEVELAND (WJW)– The FOX 8 I-Team has found a convicted felon attacked a local teacher in her home and he got caught because it happened as the teacher worked with a student online.
According to a Cleveland police report, the teacher was inside her west side Cleveland home around 11 a.m. November 23 working with a student online when she heard a noise. She told the mother of the student that she was teaching, that she heard a noise and thought someone was breaking into her home.
“She got up and confronted a strange male on the staircase leading to the second floor of her home,” the report states. The student and his mother called 9-1-1.
According to police, the suspect, Charles Derosett, ordered the victim to give him all of her money and he told her he had a knife. He also threatened to cut her throat.
The report further states that the victim told Derosett that the keys to her car were downstairs.
“He led her downstairs where she reached for her keys, but instead released her dogs, who went after Mr. Derosett, and Mr. Derosett ran out of the house via the front door,” the report states.
The victim then grabbed a pair of scissors and ran out after him. She ran down the street screaming for help and that she had just been robbed.
Robert Tubbs Jr. was helping a friend do repairs on a house on Baltic when he heard a woman screaming.
“She was screaming, ‘help me, help me; he just robbed me,'” Tubbs told the FOX 8 I-Team. “So I went to tackle him but she yelled ‘he has a knife,’ and he tried to stab me with it.”
Tubbs said he continued to fight with the suspect.
“He is still swinging the knife at me, so I hit him again, and he yells ‘you got some of the stuff back; let me take one box,” Tubbs said.
Police arrived a short time later and arrested Derosett on a charge of aggravated burglary. Derosett is being held in jail and is due back in court Wednesday.
The I-Team learned Derosett is currently on parole on an unrelated robbery charge. He was released from prison in October.
Tubbs says he is glad he was able to help and is relieved the victim is OK.
“No doubt in my mind that it could have been a lot worse than what it was,” Tubbs said “So if anybody deserves a big pat on the back it’s the victim. She didn’t give up.”
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