Marion County Sheriff’s deputies said a father’s quick thinking kept a shocking situation from getting worse after a man was found in his 7-year-old daughter’s bedroom.

After returning home from a birthday dinner Friday night, the Smith family came home to quite a surprise when they walked into their Ocala home and headed into their daughter McKenzie's room to get her ready for bed.

"This scary, he was freaky looking man just peered out and it was like ‘whoa. What are you doing in my daughter's bedroom,’” the girl's mother said.

Deputies said 63-year-old Paul Matheny was found hiding under blankets.

Jesse Smith grabbed his Glock when he heard his daughter and wife screaming.

"I immediately got my gun and went there and got them out of the room,” Smith said.

He held Matheny at gunpoint until deputies arrived.

"Everybody has a little scaredness in them when they have a feeling they might have to shoot another person,” Smith said. “(You were prepared to shoot?) “Definitely."

When deputies got there, Matheny seemed disoriented and could smell alcohol on his breath.

Matheny kept telling deputies it was his house, one he built. However, his driver’s license proved otherwise.

"He wasn't cooperative,” Smith said. “Deputies said ‘let me see your hands.’ He just stayed curled up under the blanket."

The Smith family said he made himself comfortable by sitting on the couch, watching television and even grabbed a few cans of Mountain Dew before heading into the bedroom.

Matheny’s criminal past includes three arrests for indecent exposure.

Deputies said they have no reason to believe he was trying to hurt anyone.



McKenzie has not slept in her bedroom since the incident.

Smith has fixed his door to keep his home better secured.

Deputies said they now believe Matheny is homeless.

Law enforcement said Smith did the right thing by getting his gun, in order to protect his family.



Matheny was charged with trespassing and resisting an officer with violence. He remains in the Marion County Jail on $20,500 bond.

