WILSONVILLE, Ore. (KOIN) — Nolan Collett suddenly found himself in a very grown-up situation — dealing with an intruder while his mom and sister were school shopping.
The 12-year-old said he heard a knock on the door and he “peeked out the window through a crack in the blinds.” He heard the knock 4 times and admitted he “was getting kind of worried.”
The front door of his Wilsonville home was locked. He kept quiet and retreated to the living room.
“I heard, like, a click from the door,” he told KOIN 6 News, and then ran into a woman police later identified as 18-year-old Emely Mercedes Fernandez.
“I asked her why she was in my house and she said that my grandpa told her to go in the side door,” he said. But he told her that couldn’t be true and said she tried to talk her way out of it.
But once she left, “I dialed 911 after I called my mom on my cell phone, and that worked.”
His mom, Wendy Collett, said Nolan had her on one phone and the police on another. Both she and the police rushed to the house.
A neighbor said Fernandez also knocked on his door on Wimbledon Circle and said she was selling magazines. He turned down the offer and left — but he could see her hiding behind his bushes.
When police arrived, he showed them where she was.
Police arrested her and she later confessed to the burglary on Tournament Court.
She is charged with three counts of first-degree burglary.
Nolan “did all the right things. He didn’t answer the door,” his mom said. They both suggest parents talk to kids about making it a habit to secure all the entrances to your home.
“I would just lock the doors and make sure you know what to do if someone intrudes the house, and call the police right away,” Nolan said. “They can even track your phone, so even if you don’t talk to the police they’ll be able to find you.”