A 60-year-old Juneau woman came home Tuesday night to find her door forced open, according to a Juneau Police Department news release.
She chased two men out of her home, and then continued after them giving police updates on their location until their arrest, according to the police.
Joseph C. Tong, 48, and Derek H. Goodman, 43, are each charged with one count of first-degree burglary, a class B felony.
Juneau police spokesman Lt. David Campbell said the men had forced her locked door open, but neither the lock nor doorjamb appeared to be damaged.
“Our victim is assuming they must have jimmied the lock somehow maybe with a credit card, but that was just an assumption,” Campbell said.
The door appeared to be the only point of entry.
According to the release, the homeowner discovered the two men about 7:13 p.m. in her home in the 3200 block of Bresee Street.
The woman reported that the men got into a green van and left. Police said she continued after them and gave updates on their position.
“They got in the car, she followed them,” Campbell said. “She gave us kind of like point-by-point directions to where they were going so when we contacted them, she was just right there in the area.”
Campbell said at about 7:21 p.m., a police officer stopped the van and the victim positively identified Tong and Goodman. Two other men in the van were identified, interviewed and released.
“We went back to her house, and in the house there was a pile of personal items that looked like these two guys had, like, compiled into an area that they were going to take,” Campbell said.
Campbell said while at first nothing seemed to be taken, the woman said some jewelry might have been missing.
Tong and Goodman are being held at Lemon Creek Correctional Center.
An investigation is ongoing.
