Police: Parolee broke into house, naps
A parolee on an electronic tether broke into a Ferndale woman’s house while she was away, drank her alcohol and took a snooze for a couple of hours, police say.
The suspect, George Mashatt, 52, is jailed on $100,000 cash bond and had a video hearing in Ferndale 43rd District Court on Thursday.
He is charged with second- degree home invasion and has multiple felony convictions on his record.
The 41- year- old woman who owns the house in the 300 block of Spencer called police after she returned home Nov. 29.
“She discovered her back door was open,” said Ferndale Officer Jill Mahlmeister. “She started checking her house and noticed a basement window was open and the screen was removed.”
The homeowner went into the basement and found someone had made a makeshift sleeping area behind the bar, police said.
She found an empty beer can, a knit cap, and vodka missing from a bottle on the bar.
Police said the suspect was gone. However, a Ferndale detective checked the Michigan Department of Corrections tether log, which has tracking software.
“Mr. Mashatt happened to have a tether on and the GPS showed he was at the house for about three hours from 4 a.m. to 7 a.m. on Nov. 28,” Mahlmeister said. “It appears he broke in, drank alcohol and took a nap for a couple hours.”
A couple days later Ferndale police got a warrant charging the suspect before going to an area in Highland Park where the tether tracking system showed him to be.
But the suspect wasn’t there.
“He he cut off his tether and left it there,” Mahlmeister said.
Members of a Michigan Department of Corrections parole absconder unit found Mashatt and turned him over to Ferndale police Dec. 1. The suspect’s criminal record dates back to 1986 and includes convictions and prison time for attempted armed robbery, assaulting a prison employee, and credit card fraud.
MDOC records show he also was convicted of tampering with an electronic tether three years ago.
Mashatt faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted on the home invasion charge he faces in Ferndale.
He is scheduled for a preliminary examination in Ferndale court at 1 p.m. Dec. 21.