Port Charlotte man arrested for home invasion and assault

Deputies arrested a Port Charlotte suspect after a victim says she woke up in her bed with him lying on top of her.

Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office arrested Jorge Deleon Galindez, 44, for Burglary With Assault or Battery Monday.

According to the arrest report, CCSO responded to the report of a home invasion in Port Charlotte  around 1 a.m. The victim said she woke up in her bed to a suspect on top of her and yelled for them to get off. Once the suspect moved, recognizing her neighbor, she said he wore gray shorts and had balding hair. The victim also said the suspect repeatedly told her he needed to find his shirt.  

Deputies went to the back porch of the home and found a 6-to-8-inch hole cut through the screen material on the victim’s pool cage door. The victim believes the suspect gained access onto her back porch and then entered her home through the back sliding door that was left open. 

The sheriff’s office K9 unit responded, and it led to a successful track from the victim’s home to a neighbor’s house. Initially the sheriff’s office identified a 26 year-old-man as a suspect, but after interviewing him, the man led deputies to his step-father, identified as Galindez.  

When Galindez appeared before them, he was shirtless wearing gray basketball shorts. The victim showed up with deputies, and she told them he was 100% the intruder. And Galindez was arrested. 

“Very frightening,” neighbor Cynthia Minogue said. “I didn’t think we had someone on the street that would do something like that.”

Minogue has lived in the neighborhood for more than 20 years and never imagined someone would enter a neighbor’s home and inappropriately touch them.

“It scares me to know something like that,” Minogue said. “It could be that he was comfortable if he knew the person, but it’s very wrong.”

Neighbor Brian Hall said galindex has always been friendly. His thoughts were similar to Minogue’s.

“It’s probably easier because he could watch her patterns being across the street,” Hall said. “It makes me at ease to know that they caught the guy, and he’s not still running around.”

Galindez is in Charlotte County jail on $150,000 bond.