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Family frustrated after intruder arrested for only a misdemeanor

Family says intruder's charges not enough
Posted at 6:46 PM, Nov 23, 2016
and last updated 2016-11-23 18:49:40-05

A mother says not enough is being done to protect her family after the man caught insider their home was only charged with a misdemeanor. 

"I’m really frustrated at how the system is working," said Christina Hancock, who's 9-year-old daughter caught the intruder. 

She says her daughter woke her up earlier this month to say there was a man on her bed. 

"It was pretty shocking to see someone actually sitting there, she said," a grown man at that." 

She found 38-year-old Shawn Burkard who told her he used to live there. 

Turns out, he had lived there, but Hancock says she's never seen him. 

She told him to get out and hit him with a pot. 

"He wasn’t willing to leave," she said, "like he didn’t get up and leave like he should have when most people say to get out." 

Pasco Co. deputies arrested Burkard and charged him with trespassing. 

Hancock doesn't understand why it wasn't a tougher penalty. 

Especially after discovering he'd gone on someone else's property the month before.

 "If they just keep slapping him on the wrist with just minor infractions," she said,"who’s to say he’s not going to keep doing it?" 

Amy Marinec, a spokesperson for the Pasco Sheriff's Office says deputies couldn't do much else since Burkard never threatened to hurt anyone or take anything and there were no signs of forced entry at the home. 

"Our deputies have to follow the letter of the law," she said, “ and legally this was the only charge that we were able to charge him with." 

Burkard remains in jail with a $150 bond. 

Records show he's listed as homeless. 

Hancock says she's concerned he'll head back to their home or worse.

"Next time what if he happened to enter someone else's home who owned a fire arm," she said, "who’s to say he wouldn’t have shot them or they wouldn’t have shot him?"

The state attorneys office could investigate and decide to give Burkard a tougher penalty.