A Pinellas County woman said she woke up Sunday to a burglar in her home, crouching at the foot of her bed, petting her cat.

  • Homeowner said burglar broke into her Shore Acres home in the middle of the night
  • Burglar was petting the homeowner's cat when she woke up and found him
  • When ordered to leave, burglar turned and left

Homeowner Brittney Cline said the entire incident seemed more like a nightmare than something that really happened to her.

“I sat up in bed and kinda leaned forward and when I did, it wasn’t terribly bright but there was enough light that I could see there was a person crouched down at the foot of my bed. He was petting the cat,” she said.

According to Cline, the burglar broke into her Shore Acres home Sunday through an unlocked side door in the middle of the night. She said she could’ve never predicted what happened after she confronted him.

“He didn’t look at me immediately, but he slowly stood up, and of course at that point I’m panicked," said Cline. "I knew I had to do something, but I wasn’t sure what was going to happen when I did. I knew that when I said something to him, he was either going to attack me or he was going to leave.”

“I just said, 'What are you doing? Get out of my house,' as loud and as firmly as I could," she said. "With that, he looked directly at me, and said 'Hey.'"

After that, she said the suspect calmly walked back out of the same door he came in.

The next day, Cline had an alarm installed after the first break-in, even though she thought she would never see the suspect again. She didn’t know police already had in mind who the suspect might be.

Officers put Jasper Fiorenza, 24, under survellance and witnessed as he went back to Cline’s now locked and secured home again two days later. Thankfully, he didn’t get inside that time.

Cline said police were able to pin Fiorenza down after his prints were lifted from the surface he touched while stepping over the doggy gate in her bedroom.

Cline said she has never met Fiorenza before. When we went to the suspect’s house, we discovered he lives exactly one block away from her.

Cline said she has since replayed every possible scenario in her head.

“Would I have woken up with a strange man on top of me that night? Thank God the cat jumped off the bed,” she said.

It’s an odd sequence of events, but Cline said she was thankful it ended the way it did.

“Definitely scary. I’m so happy he’s caught, obviously,” she said.

Fiorenza was charged with burglary of an occupied dwelling.