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Teen says man climbed through window into her Gastonia home

GASTONIA, N.C. — Gastonia police arrested a man after they said he broke into a home with a teenager inside.

The teenager said she saw David Smith come up her driveway in the Yorkchester neighborhood around 10 a.m., on West 5th Street.

She said Smith saw her inside but he kept walking to a side window.

He took off the screen, she said, and crawled inside.

She ran out and called 911 from a neighbor's house.

When police got there, they said Smith was still inside and sent their dogs in to flush him out.

Neighbor Cheri Arnold said Smith is homeless and known to wander the streets.

Arnold thinks he could have been looking for food or warmth, and hopes that's all it was.

"It makes me worry what was on his mind.  After he saw her through the window, makes you wonder what he was going to do," Arnold said.

Smith has faced misdemeanor charges for his past run-ins with the law.

He is now charged with resisting an officer, a misdemeanor and breaking and entering, which is a felony.