Two Anchorage men were arrested this week after a pair of back-to-back botched burglaries.

Brenton Kehoe, 20, and Gilberto Gutierrez, 18, were arrested at a home on West 31st Avenue after police rushed to the scene of the second burglary report inside of a half hour. Gutierrez was in the driveway. Kehoe was arrested in a bedroom where a child was sleeping, police said.

“They got all the way in the houses and people just sensed that somebody was there,” police spokesman Lt. Dave Parker said. “In each house, it was the lady of the house that was awakened.”

It began about 1:30 a.m. Wednesday in the 2200 block of Arctic Circle. Judith Powell woke to find a strange man snooping around the bedroom and bathroom and woke her husband, Elisha Powell, police said.

Elisha Powell met the young man and rather unceremoniously escorted him outside by his throat, according to police.

“He grabbed him and backed him out," Parker said.

The man met his partner in the driveway and they ran off toward the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail, police said. Only a digital camera was missing from the home.

Police were still investigating the crime at 1:59 a.m. when they got another report of a burglary about a half mile away, in the 1300 block of W. 31st Avenue.

Shawn Knudeson woke up to find a flashlight shining around her living room, police said. A man, whom she later identified as Kehoe, came into her bedroom.
Knudeson was afraid, but tried to act confident, police said.

“What’s up?” she said, according to police.

“Are you ready? We’ve been waiting for 25 minutes,” he said. She shook her head no.

“I’ve got Tammy and Brian and we are waiting for you. Do you want me to send in Tammy or Brian?” the burglar asked.

Knudeson picked Tammy, opting to deal with a woman, police said. The perp left the room and Knudeson called police.

Minutes later, the man was back, this time with a man police say was Guiterrez. Kehoe said he was looking for cocaine, and Knudeson said he had the wrong house, police said.

The men apparently took off right about the time police swarmed in. Knudeson thought they both went out the back.

“(Kehoe's) buddy ran out the back door after the police were sighted,” Parker said. “I think he decided that he would be safer staying inside and looking for an opportunity to bolt, but he never got it.”

Police found Gutierrez standing in the driveway when officers arrived. An officer heard a shuffle and found Kehoe standing in a bedroom where a child was sleeping.

Knudeson’s ID and other belongings were in his pockets, police said. Gutierrez had her credit card and gift certificates.

Kehoe and Gutierrez are charged with two-counts of first-degree burglary, second-degree theft and fourth-degree criminal mischief following the break-ins early Wednesday, police said.

They were booked at the Anchorage jail with bail set at $5,000.