Michael Gearde

That’s what Martin County Sheriff’s deputies said happened before they were alerted that Hobe Sound resident Michael F. Gearde had broken into his ex-girlfriend’s house early this morning.

Gearde, 44, now faces felony charges of armed burglary, aggravated assault and false imprisonment.

The woman told deputies she was in her room when Gearde appeared holding a knife.

When she tried to flee, Gearde allegedly grabbed her and kicked her. Eventually the woman’s mother came in and the two were able to get Gearde to leave, according to a sheriff’s report.

The women weren’t sure how Gearde was able to get into the house, but suspected he snuck inside when the older woman opened the garage door to take out the garbage.

About a half-hour after the first incident, the women said, Gearde returned and banged on the ex-girlfriend’s bedroom window before crashing into it to force his way in.

Gearde then choked the former girlfriend, and her mother was able to free her daughter by pounding her fists against the man’s back, the women said.

Sheriff’s deputies used a K-9 unit dog to trace Gearde to a nearby home where he was found hiding in a small closet, according to the report.

Tags: aggravated assault, armed burglary, false imprisonmet, knife, Martin County Sheriff's Office, Michael Gearde

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 25th, 2009 at 2:27 pm and is filed under Crime, Hobe Sound, Martin County. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.