Man arrested after entering house unnoticed as kids got ready for school

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) - A father says it was disturbing to realize a man had gotten into his house unnoticed while he and his kids were getting ready to start their day.

Chris Cendana says Friday morning, he’d left his front door unlocked after taking his dog out.

He was getting ready for work in his home by the intersection of 3rd Street and 12th Avenue in Huntington when he noticed items in the kitchen he didn’t recognize, including some papers.

Cendana texted a picture of the papers to his wife, who was already at work, asking if they were hers.

Then he locked up the house and left with his kids.

Cendana says he was on the road in Kanawha County on his way to work when his wife texted him back and said those papers were not hers.

“I felt like I was pale white, had no idea what to do,” Cendana said.

Just before 8:30 a.m., he pulled over and looked back through recordings from his home security videos on his phone and saw a man walking in through the front door a little after 6:45 a.m.

That was while he and his kids were still inside.

“He just slipped in,” Cendana said. “We didn’t even catch it. I just felt violated.”

Cendana called the police and unlocked his doors for officers through his mobile security system.

The criminal complaint says officers were on the second floor when they heard the defendant call out from the third floor, and the suspect, Anthony Hensley, was cooperative and taken into custody.

Hensley, 53, was taken to the Western Regional jail on a felony charge of burglary.

“It’s very unsettling,” Cendana said. “I think we got very lucky. If this was a violent guy, it would’ve probably ended a completely different way.”

Cendana says nothing in his home was damaged or missing.

“I honestly think this was an isolated incident, a very once in a blue moon type of thing,” he said.

He says he hasn’t told his daughters about what happened, not wanting them to feel frightened in their home. He says he’ll be extra vigilant from now on about keeping his doors locked at all hours.

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