By Patric Hedlund, with Gary Meyer and Shaina Della Rocco

Ilona Novak was pulling into her driveway, on Yosemite Drive in Los Padres Estates, returning to her home about 8:20 a.m. after a quick run to the Lebec post office on Thursday morning. Suddenly a man popped out of the gate leading to her home.

‘I ran after him.’

She saw a white man in a black hoodie with red and black stripes and light brown khaki pants. He was about 180 pounds, late 20’s to mid-30’s “by his build and how he moved,” Novak said.

The alleged burglar outran Novak, up a hill. She swerved…(please see below to view full stories and photographs)

Photo captions:

Lebec’s Los Padres Estates resident Ilona Novak re-enacts the moment she saw a burglar fleeing from her home. Right: As Novak was closing her car door, a man came through her gate (see inset above). He ran up a steep bank to an adjacent ‘community lot’ on a dirt path. The man then ran uphill over the lot, using trails she says are frequently used by people to walk between north and south sections of the neighborhood, just west of Lebec Oaks Road in Los Padres Estates.

As the man ran up the hill, Novak ran to the other side of her house and up the same hill, seeking to get a glimpse of his face.

Pointing to the ‘community lot,’ (above) used by people to walk behind other people’s homes, Novak said she is not sure how the burglar entered her house. She suspects he entered through a window. She believes area houses are being surveilled, and wants to warn her neighbors.

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This is part of the December 11, 2020 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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