Man accused of breaking into Lehigh Acres home, threatening woman and 2 kids

A Lehigh Acres man has been arrested after allegedly breaking into a woman’s home and threatening her and her two children.

On Monday, Lee County Sheriff’s Office detectives responded to a home in Lehigh Acres about a man who had entered a victim’s home.

According to the victim, she was home alone and in the pool with her two daughters. She said her daughter had left the front door unlocked when she had gone to get her ID out of the car earlier.

The door to the backyard was trying to be opened, and she saw her dogs being let out of the house and 43-year-old Jose Manuel Irizarry Barbosa standing there.

She did not know who Barbosa was.

“Lost all words. I was kind of muted because I couldn’t say anything at the moment, but immediately I started analyzing how I need to get my girls closer to me,” the mother said.

Her younger daughter was in a life vest chewing on a scrunchie when Barbosa approached her and touched her face, telling her to be careful and that she could choke on that.

“He grabbed my baby’s face. He touched my daughter’s face and he told me, ‘You should be more careful than that to let your baby have a scrunchie in her mouth,'” the mother said.

Barbosa reportedly told the victim that she didn’t have to worry about him being evil and that he stopped being evil long ago; if he had still been evil, the victim would not be here.

He then walked backward towards the home, told the mother he had done her a favor, and smiled at her. He unplugged the auxiliary cord from her phone because it had the music connected. He repeated himself, advising her to wait and he’d be back.

“In literally a minute, maybe a minute and a half, I threw my daughters out of the pool. I ran to get my phone, and I ran towards the back of my house,” she said.

The victim took the kids out of the pool, helped them over her fence into her neighbor’s backyard, and ran to the neighbor’s front door. She then called her husband and then called the police.

When deputies arrived on the scene, they said they heard shots coming from behind the residence. Deputies then gave commands for the suspect to exit the home.

According to LCSO, the suspect exited through the front door, where he refused further commands from deputies and told deputies to shoot him.

Sgt. Boudreaux deployed his less lethal shotgun, striking him.

Inside the home, two Smirnoff beers and an open bag of chips were empty on the counter in the kitchen, which weren’t there before.

The total approximate cost of the items consumed was $10.00. Nothing else of value was taken from within the residence.

Lehigh Acres Fire and Rescue checked out Barbosa before being arrested.

Barbosa is being charged with touch or strike, petit theft of less than $100 and unarmed burglary of an occupied dwelling.

After going through this scary situation, this mom has a warning for other parents out there.

“Always double, triple check your doors before anything, even if it’s to go to the pool, because, look, this happened to me in broad daylight,” she said.