YULEE, Fla. – A Nassau County mother called 911 just before midnight Wednesday saying a man was looking in her bathroom window.
When deputies stopped the man about a half mile away, he claimed he was outside were Yulee home trying to get better cellphone reception.
The deputies didn't buy it and charged 31-year-old Thomas DiMarzio with loitering or prowling.
"I just looked up, basically, and I saw the face right there in the bottom left-hand corner," said the woman, who News4Jax is only identifying as Marie.
Seeing a man's face staring back from the window and thinking about him lurking outside her home was the last thing she expected during a late-night trip to the bathroom.
"It was the scariest thing I've enter had to deal, with especially with it being just me and my children," Marie said. "It was very frightening."
As the man ran from her home, Marie said she ran to lock her doors, called 911, and immediately began describing the man she says she saw: a man wearing a suit and tie. Minutes later Nassau County deputies found DiMarzio.
Investigators say he told them he was walking around the neighborhood because he didn't get good cellphone reception at his house, and denied being at Marie's window.
Deputies credited Marie's description with allowing them to make a quick arrest.
"He may have been arrested eventually, but we would have to do more investigation to determine why he was out there at that particular time of night," Nassau County Sheriff Bill Leeper said. "Luckily, the individual did see what he was wearing and what he looked like."
DiMarzio was out of jail Thursday but not at his home when News4Jax went by. A vehicle from the car service deputies said he works for was parked outside.
His arrest is not sitting well with neighbors.
"It's kind of scary. It's right across from my bedroom window, and sometimes I accidentally leave the curtains open from the day," the neighbor said. "And so it's kind of scary that that could have happened to me."
Marie said she was so rattled by the experience she stayed in a hotel Wednesday night and she is considering moving out of her home.
"Hopefully, as a whole, my family and the neighborhood, that we can kind of get past this and work together to keep our eyes out more, and just be more aware of what's going on," Marie said.