Photo: Union County Jail
Kent Foster says he knew something was wrong the instant he returned to his house in Union, South Carolina, last week.
A dog he’d never seen before was in his yard— and a car seat was barricading his front door, he told local Fox affiliate WHNS.
Moments later, a woman he was unfamiliar with poked her head out the door and asked, “What are you doing at my house?” Foster said.
“I said, ‘Excuse me?’ I said, ‘I live here.’”
Standing outside his house while the woman remained inside with the door shut, Foster immediately called 911.
When police arrived, the woman opened the door and said, “Can I help you?” Foster recalled.
He replied to the woman, “Yeah, the first thing you can do is leave my house.”
The length of time from which Foster had been away from the house was not immediately clear, Union Public Safety Captain Kevin Powers tells PEOPLE.
The dog he saw had urinated in the house and the family that had allegedly moved into his clean home had trashed it, he said, even eating his food.
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After being taken to the hospital to be evaluated, Rhinehart was arrested and charged with burglary, neglect of a child and petty larceny, Powers tells PEOPLE.
“I spoke to the officer who responded who said that in her mind she thought she lived there,” Powers tells PEOPLE.
Rhinehart’s two children were placed in emergency protective custody, he says.
Foster said he still cannot believe someone actually moved into his house while he was gone.
“I feel violated,” he tells WHNS. “I feel extremely violated.”
Rhinehart has not yet entered a plea. It is unclear whether she had retained an attorney to speak on her behalf.
source: people.com
