West Virginia Homeowner Holds Intruder at Gunpoint

A resident in Fayette County, West Virginia, was sitting in his living room when an intruder broke into his house. The homeowner then held the robber at gunpoint until police arrived. Here’s the story:

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CHARLESTON, W.Va. – A Wyoming County woman chose the wrong Fayette County home to try to burglarize, deputies said.

Lisa Beth Blankenship, 36, of Oceana, was arrested Monday morning after she allegedly entered a home on Craft Lane, off Summerlee Road just north of Oak Hill.

Fayette deputies went to the home after dispatchers received a report that a homeowner had detained the woman at gunpoint.

The homeowner, whose name was not released, told deputies he was sitting in his living room about 11 a.m. when he heard a noise coming from the back of his house, according to a release from the Fayette Sheriff’s Department. When he went to check it out, he found Blankenship walking through his kitchen.

He confronted her, deputies said, but she responded that she “couldn’t go to jail” and that she “needed help.” She tried to run out the back door, but the homeowner and two others in the home detained her at gunpoint until police arrived.

Deputies said she had been staying in the woods near Summerlee Road for the past several weeks. There also have been other residential burglaries reported in the area during this time frame, according to the release.

Detectives haven’t determined whether Blankenship is connected to the other burglaries, Sheriff Steve Kessler said. He said deputies reported that Blankenship appeared to be under the influence of a controlled substance and that the crime seemed to be drug-related.

“It’s a pretty brazen act to break into a home in broad daylight in a densely-populated residential district,” Kessler said in the release. “Unfortunately, when individuals are suffering from addiction to various controlled substances they don’t realize the danger they’re putting themselves into by breaking into a home that, as in this case, may be occupied at the time.

“More and more homeowners are arming themselves to protect their homes against this type of criminal behavior.”

Blankenship was charged with daytime burglary. She is being held at Southern Regional Jail on $10,000 bond.

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