A 20-year-old Saint Mary’s University student says she experienced one of the “scariest” moments of her life early Tuesday morning after awaking in her south-end Halifax apartment to find a strange man rummaging through her belongings.

Jessie Fuller was asleep in her apartment near the intersection of South Park and South Streets. She says she woke up around 3:30 a.m., and at first thought it was a friend looking for something. She asked what was going on.

“When he turned around I realized it wasn’t (my friend) Brad,” Fuller said.

“So, I kind of shot out of bed, wasn’t half asleep any more. Pretty much he mumbled something and just kind of limped out my room.

“I followed him out into the hall and when he left the apartment I just closed the door and locked it.”

The man didn’t harm her, but Fuller said she realized her wallet was gone and quickly called police.

Lock your doors

Officers have arrested a 62-year-old man. They found him under a nearby staircase after tracking him with a canine unit.

“I’m from a small town, so it’s probably one of the scariest things that’s ever happened to me,” Fuller said.

She doesn’t think the man was staking out her home, and that he was simply looking for money.

But Fuller also said she’s learned a lesson: the intruder got into the apartment through an unlocked door.

“As always, we highly recommend that you secure your home once you’ve gone to bed for the evening,” said Staff Sgt. Lindsay Hernden of Halifax Regional Police.

“In this case there was a front door that had been left unlocked, which allowed for ready access for this particular individual to enter into the home.

“It allowed him an opportunity to break in and subsequently steal her belongings," he said.

Robert Wilson, 62, faces charges of break and enter, trespass by night, theft under $5,000 and possession of stolen property under $5,000.

Police managed to retrieve Fuller’s wallet.