Woman Admits To Terrorizing Corona Family With Knife, Now Prison-Bound

CORONA, CA —A 29-year-old convicted felon who confronted a Corona family with a knife and forced her way inside their apartment to search for someone who didn't live there was sentenced Thursday to four years in state prison.

Helene Nicole Littlewiggins of Corona last week admitted felony charges of assault and burglary, as well as a misdemeanor count of brandishing a deadly weapon, under a plea agreement with the Riverside County District Attorney's Office. In exchange for her admissions, prosecutors dropped a related sentence enhancement.

During a hearing at the Riverside Hall of Justice Thursday, Superior Court Judge Gail O'Rane certified the terms of the plea deal and imposed the sentence stipulated by the prosecution and defense.

According to the Corona Police Department, shortly after 6 p.m. on Dec. 6, 2023, Littlewiggins banged on the door of a Corona couple's apartment in the 700 block of Gianni Drive, near Circle City Drive.

The victims were relaxing with their infant daughter and opened the door to find the defendant standing at the entrance with a "large kitchen knife," which she raised threateningly, police Lt. Gary Griffitts said.

He said the defendant entered the apartment, asking to see "an individual who didn't live at the residence."

She proceeded to search the property without permission, despite the occupants telling her that the person she wanted wasn't there, according to the lieutenant.

"The (defendant) continued to search every room in the apartment before leaving," Griffitts said.

The victims immediately called 911, and patrol officers initiated a search of the neighborhood, without finding the intruder, according to the police spokesman.

Around the same time the following day, while the residents were out, they received a security camera notification that an individual was loitering outside their apartment, and the images that showed up via mobile phone revealed it was the same person -- Littlewiggins -- police said.

Patrol officers went to the apartment, but she was gone. However, neighbors provided a description of her car, which was spotted a half-hour later in the area of East Sixth Street and Grand Boulevard, where officers stopped the defendant.

"Officers determined that she was on probation for a case out of San Bernardino County," Griffitts said.

They detained Littlewiggins and conducted a probation compliance check at her nearby apartment, where they located "clothing that matched what the suspect had been wearing the day before," the lieutenant said.

Littlewiggins was taken into custody without incident.

Court records indicate she has prior convictions in another jurisdiction for which she served time in state prison, but the offenses weren't specified.