Published: April 16, 2009 11:36 pm      

Suspect caught in Mineral residence

Elderly occupant was asleep inside

RIDGELEY, W.Va. — A 21-year-old Cumberland man was jailed early Thursday after he allegedly broke into an elderly woman’s house and was arrested inside the residence by three Mineral County deputies who were in the area on another call.

Vance Ridgeley was charged with the felony count of night time burglary that carries, upon conviction, a jail term of one to 15 years.

Ridgeley remained jailed Thursday afternoon at the Potomac Highlands Regional Jail in lieu of $3,100 bond following arraignment before Mineral County Magistrate David Harman.

It was 11:42 p.m., when the Mineral County 911 center received a call that a Blocker Street house appeared to be broken into and that the suspect was still inside.

Mineral County Cpl. C.E. Leatherman, Deputy First Class R.C. Reall and Deputy M.M. Leatherman responded, arriving on the scene in four minutes.

The officers then encountered Ridgeley as he was exiting a rear door of the victim’s residence, according to the Mineral County Sheriff’s Office.

Ridgeley then reportedly ran back inside the residence and was followed by two of the officers while another had gone to the front of the residence.

The officers arrested Ridgeley following a brief struggle as Ridgeley attempted to ascend inside stairs to the second-floor where the victim was asleep and unaware of the break-in and arrest.

Ridgeley suffered minor injuries when he ran into a glass door as he attempted to flee from arrest.

Ridgeley was taken to Potomac Valley Hospital by a Ridgeley Volunteer Fire Department ambulance. He was treated and released and then taken to the regional jail.

Also assisting in the incident were Ridgeley Police Chief Mike Miller and West Virginia State Police Cpl. H.C. Myers.