A Framingham man said he reacted instinctively when he arrived home Monday night and found a stranger prowling around his house.

A Framingham man said he reacted instinctively when he arrived home Monday night and found a stranger prowling around his house.

"I just grabbed him and threw him to the ground and wrapped him up like a pretzel until the police got there," said Gerard Robinson of Grove Street. "I pile-drived him into the ground so he knew I was for real."

Police arrested Scott A. Bell, 27, of Bellingham, at 7:34 p.m.

Robinson said he was arriving home after going to dinner with his wife and college-age daughter. He said he opened the garage door electronically, and once it was raised, he saw Bell coming out of a door leading from the kitchen, stuffing items into his pocket.

"I said, 'What are you doing here?"' said Robinson, 52. "He said 'I'm here to quote the job' - some nonsensical baloney."

Bell had entered through an unlocked door and taken cell phones, an iPod and two digital cameras, police said. Robinson said his daughter's laptop computer was also missing, but police could not find it.

Bell had the charger to the computer in his pocket when police arrived.

Bell did not struggle once he was on the ground, Robinson said.

Police charged Bell, of the Rte. 126 Trailer Park in Bellingham, with burglary with armed assault and larceny of property worth more than $250.

When police searched Bell, they found a knife in his right front pocket, but he never took it out, prosecutor Julia Andrus said.

Andrus asked Judge David Cunis to hold Bell on $2,500 bail.

Bell's lawyer, Erin Opperman, argued that the charges were more serious than they should be.

"I realize the lead charge is serious, but if you look at the police report, there's no indication that Mr. Bell had this knife, or carried this knife, with the intent to effect a burglary," she said. "The seriousness of the crime is not supported."

Opperman asked Cunis to release Bell with no bail, but Cunis said that wasn't going to happen.

"I can imagine the fear the homeowner felt, coming home and finding a stranger on his property, in his garage," said Cunis. "(Bell is) lucky the homeowner didn't have a license to carry, or it could have been much worse."

After Cunis set bail at $1,000, Bell broke down into tears. He said his mother died in May, and he and his father only worked sparingly and recently moved to the trailer park.

"We're trying to get our life together and we just moved to Bellingham," said Bell. "I'm not trying to give you a pity party..."

Bell will be held at the Middlesex Jail in Cambridge. He is due back in court on Jan. 5 for a pretrial conference.

Robinson said he was surprised at what he considers low bail.

"You just feel violated when something like this happened," he said.

(Norman Miller can be reached at 508-626-3823 or nmiller@cnc.com.)