DEL MAR, Calif. (KGTV) - A couple in Del Mar is warning others after a frightening attempted home invasion at their home Saturday evening.
Mark and Teri Kohn were watching TV in the living room of their home on Rue D Antibes just north of Del Mar Heights Road.
"All of a sudden the power goes off and my husband says another SDG&E power outage. I said no Mark, ours is the only house with the lights out, so my mind is racing. We look up and we see a flashlight somebody, walking by with a flashlight mind you, it's pitch dark," said Teri.
"My husband said, "Wow, SDG&E has really responded," I said that's not SDG&E, that's somebody coming to our house!" said Teri.
That's when their ninety-pound German Shepherd realized what was going on.
"He went to the patio door, so my husband is screaming get the hell off our property and then he starts barking," said Teri.
The intruder ran off to a waiting truck or van parked on the street.
"It was simple, they just lift the lid on the utility box and there's only one big breaker you just flick it and the whole power went out including the security cameras," said Mark.
The couple has lived in the Del Mar area for more than thirty years. Crime has not been an issue.
"The first thing was shocked by it all. She was terrified about going to bed that night, but then she got angry, it's like being violated," said Mark.
The couple now has a padlock on their circuit box.
"What I'm struggling with is how they got on the patio, if we were to go outside, you'd see there's a wall around the perimeter of the patio and there's a gate," said Mark.
San Diego Police and the Sheriff's Department are looking into whether cutting the power is a new tactic they're seeing in break-ins.
The couple was out of town the previous week so it's possible the intruder thought the house was empty.
"We'd never really thought about anything like that, but now you go to bed at night and you think to yourself, what's the possibility of something untoward happening, not a comfortable feeling," said Mark.
