White Settlement police say they arrested a man hours following an alleged home invasion Friday after finding his dropped phone near the crime scene.
Francisco Avila, 21, is now facing a burglary of a home charge, but police say he could see more charges as their investigation continues. It wasn’t immediately clear whether he had an attorney as of Saturday.
Police said in a Facebook post that they responded to the home invasion just before 3:30 a.m. Friday at the Oak Timbers Apartments in the 8400 block of Tumbleweed Trail.
Surveillance video they obtained shows a man, wearing gloves and a hooded sweatshirt, attempting to open two nearby residential front doors before finding an unlocked one.
A woman was asleep inside the apartment and she didn’t know the suspect, the post says.
The man robbed her at knifepoint and fled on foot with some of her cash and keys, according to police. They say the victim also suffered a serious hand wound, but she was able to receive medical attention and leave the hospital later that day.
Hours after the incident, police said in a subsequent Facebook post that they were able to identify Avila as a person of interest after finding his dropped phone near the crime scene with its flashlight turned on. They detained him while he was walking around the nearby Westlake Gardens Apartments, suggesting he might have been looking for his phone at the time.
According to police, they then found more evidence at Avila’s residence linking him to the case — as well as to two felonies unrelated to the home invasion.
As of Saturday, Avila is still facing just one burglary charge, according to the White Settlement police department.
He has since been transferred from White Settlement city jail to Tarrant County jail, according to public records.
