Intoxicated man breaks into Crown Point residence, brings toddler to parents’ room

CROWN POINT, Ind. – A couple said their 2-year-old daughter hasn’t slept a full night since a stranger entered their home, picked up the crying girl and brought her to their room.\nRyan Mack said he thought he was dreaming when the man nudged him awake about 3 a.m. Friday. Mack saw the stranger holding his daughter, Nova, at the foot of his bed.\n“I even told the guy, ‘Thank you,’” Mack said, recalling the moment the man handed him his daughter. “Then I was frozen with fear.”\nMack said before the man quickly left, he explained that he was walking by the couple’s home when he heard the \ngirl crying.\nWhen Mack and his wife realized what had happened, they called police.\nPolice arrested Ricardo Arriaga, 24, of Crown Point on a public intoxication charge Friday. Arriaga had a blood-alcohol content of 0.15, nearly double Indiana’s 0.08 percent limit to legally drive, police said.\nCrown Point Assistant Police Chief Jim Janda said it’s possible that Lake County prosecutors could add charges such as residential entry or trespassing against Arriaga.\nPolice said Arriaga entered the house through its unlocked back door, which Mack said had been left open that night because his roommate wasn’t home yet.\nSince the invasion, Mack said his daughter hasn’t slept through the night, and he’s now installed extra alarms in the house.\nWhile Janda said the incident is unusual, drunken people entering homes happens more often than some people would think – about once a month in Crown Point.\n“It’s just something that happens when you leave your door unlocked,” Janda said. “Lock your doors at night and always have your doors locked, even when you’re at home.”