‘Creep-In,’ Cat Loving Florida Burglar Busted, Cops Say

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — St. Petersburg Police say they’ve caught the man responsible for giving a Shore Acres resident quite a fright in mid-November.

According to the agency, Jasper Fiorenza, 24, crept into a home in the 1700 block of Maryland Avenue Northeast on Nov. 20. The resident, police said, was sleeping at the time. She woke up to find a man standing right at the foot of her bed.

“When she screamed at him to get out of her house, he took the time to crouch down to pet her cat,” an email from the police department said. “He eventually left the house and did not harm the victim.”

See also: Man Running from Cops Stops to Pet Cats, Goes to Jail

Fiorenza allegedly left evidence behind at the scene. That evidence was used to identify him as the suspect in the case, the email said. Police did not elaborate on what the evidence might be.

In the email announcing the arrest, police dubbed Fiorenza a " creep-in burglar."

Fiorenza was charged with burglary of an occupied dwelling on Wednesday, Nov. 30. Pinellas County Jail records indicate he also faces a resisting an officer without violence charge. Fiorenza was being held in lieu of $20,500 bond Thursday.

The November break-in isn’t the first time an accused Florida criminal reportedly demonstrated an affinity for cats. Back in 2014, a Boca Raton man who was fleeing from police took time out to pet a homeowner’s cats. In that case, the man allegedly bailed out from the chase, went to a woman’s back sliding glass door and let himself in. Once inside, he reportedly told the woman he was a landscaper working nearby and then asked her for water.

As the woman fulfilled the request for water, the man reportedly laid on the floor to play with her cats. The woman later told media the encounter was quite “odd.”

Police in that case caught their suspect after he left the woman’s home and dove into the Intracoastal Waterway to avoid capture. He was ultimately fished out of the water by crew aboard a police boat.

The man in the Palm Beach County case was initially wanted in connection with the theft of $2,000 from a friend's wallet. He reportedly was spotted by police and took off in a Lexus, which ended up crashing into several vehicles, including a cop car. The Lexus also reportedly hit a fire hydrant before the man bailed out and fled into the residential neighborhood where the cats' owner lived.

Booking photo of Fiorenza courtesy of the St. Petersburg Police Department