Transient Denies Role in Bizarre Home Invasion Robbery

A 57-year-old transient accused of breaking into a Lake Forest home and getting into a scuffle with the residents pleaded not guilty today to burglary and other charges.

Jerrel Joseph Gower was arrested about 8:30 a.m. Friday along a creek bed near Saddleback Church in Lake Forest. Authorities had received multiple tips from the public about Gower's whereabouts since last Wednesday's break-in, and a deputy recalled seeing him near a homeless encampment near the church, sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino said.

Gower, whose last known address was in Mission Viejo, pleaded not guilty to felony charges of first-degree burglary, assault with a deadly weapon or force likely to produce great bodily injury and battery with serious bodily injury.

He is also charged with misdemeanor assault and battery counts and faces sentence-enhancing allegations of inflicting great bodily harm. Gower, who is due back in court June 18, was ordered held on $50,000 bail.

Gower is accused of trying to get into the home in the 20900 block of Parkside just after midnight last Wednesday, Amormino said.

A woman who lives there with her husband and two children heard a male voice outside and saw a strobe light in her backyard, he said. A man then began banging on the front door and when the woman started opening it, he forced his way in.

The woman's husband and a daughter rushed to her aid and tried to detain the intruder, but he knocked them down and ran off, Amormino said. A neighbor who heard the commotion tried to chase the man but lost him.

Outside the house, deputies found a flashlight on strobe setting and two glow sticks attached to black leather gloves, Amormino said.