A 27-year-old North Carolina man is now behind bars after a mother caught him living in her teenage daughter's closet, WSOC-TV reported.
Jarred Workman, from Albemarle, was living in the closet of a 14-year-old girl for five days before the girl's mother discovered him on May 2. But Workman fled the home before he could be arrested, leaving behind his wallet and cell phone.
Workman turned himself in on Monday after two weeks on the run and is now facing charges for sexually assaulting the teenager, according to the Daily Mail.
"I'm uncomfortable in my own home," the mother, who wished not to be identified, told WSOC-TV. "I'm scared. I can't sleep at night."
Police say Workman met the victim online and the two had agreed to meet after chatting for three weeks. But when Workman arrived at the teenager's home he sexually assaulted her, the girl told police.
From April 27 to May 2 Workman lived in his victim's closet. The girl's mother found him when she went to put some things her daughter's closet.
"I was sorta shocked more than anything. I asked him who he was and he said Jarred Workman and he was 19," the mother told the station.
Workman was charged with 11 counts of statutory rape and five counts of statutory sex offence.
"Just the fact that he would be that brazen," Lieutenant Bill Hamby, from the Iredell County Sheriff's Office, told WSOC-TV, "To come up here and meet a girl online and then stay in her residence not knowing what her parents are or what they are about."
The teenager's mother said she wants other parents to be cautious about their children's Internet activities.
"The Internet has just ruined that poor girl. She was just taken advantage of," the mother told the station.
Workman faces up to life in prison without parole. He has prior arrests and has also been charged with sexual assault in another unrelated case, according to the Daily Mail.
© 2025 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
