Child complains of ‘monster’ under the bed. Babysitter then comes face to face with man hiding there

GREAT BEND, Kansas (AP) — A babysitter looked under a bed to reassure a worried child that there wasn’t a monster hiding there — and came face to face with a man who wasn’t supposed to be there, a sheriff’s office in Kansas said in a news release.

The 27-year-old was booked into jail this week after a struggle with the babysitter that knocked the child to the ground.

The Barton County Sheriff’s Office said deputies were called late Monday to the home near Great Bend, a city of around 15,000 in the western part of the state. The suspect was gone when they arrived, but the babysitter told them that the child had been complaining about a “monster” before she found the suspect.

The man once lived in the home, but that there was a protection from abuse order issued against him to stay away from the property, the sheriff’s office said.

Deputies searched but were unable to find the man until the next day, when he was captured after a foot chase, the news release said.

Online court records show the man had posted bond about 10 days earlier after he was charged with criminal threat, domestic battery and violating a protection from abuse order. Those allegations were alleged to have occurred in January and February.

But following his latest arrest, a judge ordered him jailed without bond. The sheriff’s office said additional requested charges include aggravated burglary, aggravated battery and child endangerment.

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