Homeowner speaks out after New Carlisle home invasion blamed on dog

The homeowner in a home invasion in New Carlisle this week can laugh about the incident now — but he said he was terrified as the crime unfolded.

In a 911 call obtained by the Springfield News-Sun, the homeowner, Tim Lee, frantically told the dispatcher someone was inside his South Smith Street home.

“Someone’s in your house? You know for sure someone’s in your house?” the dispatcher said.

Lee told the dispatcher that the man is upstairs and he has his body weight against the door to keep him there.

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Lee said he was out in his barn, which he described as spitting distance from his house, at the time of the Tuesday afternoon break-in. When he walked in the home, he noticed his back door was open and the smell of cigarettes — which was odd because no one in Lee’s house smokes.

He said he noticed a dark shadow at the top of his steps and saw a stranger. As Lee was on the phone with the dispatcher, the man came downstairs, knocked Lee to the floor and walked over him.

Lee said when he was pushed down, he wasn’t able to get up. The man could’ve used Lee’s disadvantage to make a run for it — but his next move was surprising.

“When I told him to sit down, he (sat) down,” Lee said. He said the man sat on the couch until Clark County Sheriff’s deputies arrived just a couple of minutes later.

He said the man was in his house long enough to smoke three cigarettes and even take a shower.

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“He went through all the drawers looking for stuff so he was in for a reason but why — we still don’t know why,” Lee said.

The man, identified as 37-year-old Christopher Roy Hill, told deputies that the homeowner’s dog let him in the house, and had even told him to come there.

Lee couldn’t help but laugh at the thought that his service dog, named D.O.G., could be to blame for the incident.

Hill was arraigned Wednesday morning for the incident in Clark County Municipal Court.

Visiting judge Thomas Hanna entered a not guilty plea for Hill on an aggravated burglary charge and set his bond at $10,000.

Lee said he’s thankful that the incident wasn’t worse — but now he definitely has an interesting story to tell.

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