After he broke into a Chandler home, police say, Francisco Moreno tried to rape a woman and attacked her with a hatchet, and when that failed, he settled on stealing a Sprite from the refrigerator before fleeing the house.
Moreno, 19, admitted to police that on Saturday, just before 9 a.m., he slit open a window screen, unlocked the door, and sneaked inside the home. He'd been homeless for 20 days and had holed up in a nearby vacant house, where he'd decorated the inside with pornographic photos. He told police his intent was just to rob the place, but that changed when he saw the sleeping woman.
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The victim hit and kicked at the man, whom she later identified as Moreno, while he tried to remove her pants, the reports says. Moreno allegedly grabbed the hatchet he'd set on a nearby nightstand and the victim grabbed her cell phone.
The two struggled for the phone, while Moreno told he woman he'd been homeless for a while now, had two warrants out for his arrest, is addicted to drugs, and likes sex. Police say Moreno cut the woman with his hatchet and fled the home, but before making his escape, he stopped in the kitchen to nab a Sprite.
When police arrived, they found two witnesses who'd seen a Sprite-toting man still in the area. Not far from the home in the alley, officers found the victim's phone buried underneath some weeds. They hid and hung out, and sure enough Moreno returned for the phone, later saying that he had decided to keep it.
Police read Moreno his rights, and he admitted to assaulting the woman, the report says. He apologized for cutting the woman with the hatchet during their struggle for the phone. He also blamed the porn he'd placed in the abandoned home for giving him the idea to rape her.
Moreno is being charged with burglary, attempted sexual assault, kidnapping, robbery, assault with a deadly weapon, and preventing phone use in an emergency.
