Man Accused Of Preying On Woman As She Slept

An Oklahoma City woman said a man crept into her bedroom while she slept and tried to kidnap her at knife point.

She said it happened last week while her baby and her husband slept beside her.

Jose Perales is in the Oklahoma County Jail on complaints of attempted kidnapping and assault and battery with a deadly weapon.

Dulce Garcia believes Perales broke into her home in the 1300 block of S.W. 30th Street by using a knife like a credit card to unlatch the door lock.

"Those were the five longest minutes of my life," Garcia told News 9.

Garcia said she was in bed with her husband and 10-month daughter when she felt a hand on her thigh and another hand cover her mouth.

"I opened my eyes and that's when I saw my neighbor, my next door neighbor, and he had a knife in his hand," Garcia said.

Garcia said the armed man was her neighbor, 23-year-old Jose Perales.

"He said, ‘Shut up, don't move and just walk,'" she recalled. "I wanted to yell, I wanted to scream, but yet he had this knife right in his hand, so I said, if I scream, if I yell, what if he punches me, punches my daughter, goes for my husband," Garcia explained.

Garcia was able to wake up her husband as she got out of bed and said that was when Perales took off running.

She said they chased him out the back door, and he jumped the fence to go to his home.

Oklahoma City police later arrested Perales at his home. 

"Mad and sad at the same time, wanting to punch him and ask him, ‘Why did you do that," said Garcia.

She said investigators told her Perales had been watching her for days.

"It's scary, it's a scary thought, because I mean they are your next door neighbors," said Garcia. "Those are the people you kind of want to trust. If I'm not here, take care of my house - see who comes, see who leaves," she added.

Police said they found the kitchen knife in Perales' yard, and Garcia's stolen cell phone in Perales' bedroom.

They said they also found other women's underwear in his bed.