EL CAJON, Calif. (KGTV) -- 29-year-old Ardian Iseni was shackled as he was brought into Superior Court in El Cajon.
His arrest came Friday afternoon in Alpine during evacuations for the West Fire. A woman named Darcie told 10News that she was checking on a neighbor when she noticed someone strange.
"A young gentleman, it was 108 degrees, wearing a hoodie and baseball cap and only a small amount of his face showing. He had a large, black, women's satchel and he was on a bike. He immediately stood out."
She said he confidently walked up to a house, as though he belonged there. "I did see that initially he knocked, then started looking through windows, then went over and turned the knob to go in."
She rolled down her car window and started yelling. He strode up to her; she described an aggressive stance. "And I said, 'You're a looter! A thief! Here to steal from us!', and I tried to get the attention of neighbors."
Then her husband and several neighbors started chasing the man. "They got him down, ripped his bike away, dumped out his bag and he had jewelry because he'd already looted this neighborhood."
Iseni entered not guilty pleas to charges of residential burglary and attempted residential burglary. He remains locked up.
Deputy District Attorney Shane Waller told us, "Bail was set today at $50,000 on his current case. He was on probation for another matter; in that case he's held without bail."
