College Student Found Strange Man In Her Closet, Wearing Her Clothes

A student of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro found a man wearing her clothes in her closet on Saturday. Police later arrested the man.

The girl became suspicious as some items from her room were disappearing and she found hand prints on her bathroom walls of the apartment at 1212 Oakland Avenue. “I’ve been having like pieces of clothes missing. Like shirts and pants,” Maddie, whose last name was not revealed, said.

However, on Saturday, when she came to the room during her lunch break, she heard some rattling in her closet. “It sounded like a raccoon in my closet. I’m like, who’s there? And somebody answers me. He’s like ‘oh my name is Drew.’" Before opening the door, she asked him, “Are you going to do anything to me?” and tried to make an emergency call on her Apple watch but was unable to get it to work. She said she could feel him struggle with the door, and decided to open it.

"I open the door and he’s in there, wearing all of my clothes. My socks. My shoes. And he has a book bag full of my clothes,” Maddie said in a statement.

Maddie said she calmly talked to the man, later identified as Andrew Cylde Swofford, till her boyfriend arrived. Swofford had begged her not to call 911. She asked him to give her clothes back, which he did after which he told her about his life.

The man looked at himself in the bathroom mirror after trying on one of Maddie’s hats; he asked her if he could give her a hug after telling her she was “really pretty.” But she didn't allow him to touch her. She said he tried to make himself at home and was "not violent." He fled the apartment when the girl's boyfriend arrived.

Police arrested 30-year-old Swofford soon after he fled the apartment. He was held in the Guildford County Jail. He was charged with felony breaking and entering, larceny after breaking and entering, resist, delay or obstruct a police officer, identity theft and possession of stolen goods.

His bail was set at a combined $26,600 for three of the 25 charges he faces. He appeared in court on Monday via video conference and it was unclear if he had hired an attorney.

Though Swofford was in jail, the student said she was scared as this wasn’t the first time, she and her roommates have found strange men in their house. In December, they found two unknown men in their living room. Maddie and her roommates are all perplexed as to how the men got into their house since they keep all their doors and windows locked at all times. The property management company stated they will go through all the details to figure out how this happened.

“Last night I did not feel safe. I slept with my roommate in her bed. I can’t stay here. My closet, it stinks. Every time I go in (my room) there’s a bad vibe. I’m just ready to leave,” she said.