PORT CHESTER - A 25-year-old Port Chester man is accused of toting a hatchet and trying to steal a former female roommate's underwear but was scared off by a new roommate, police said.

Police said Mauro Loja of 127 Fairview Ave. used to live at the Washington Street apartment until his former 26-year-old roommate threw him out last year for stealing her bras and panties.

Police said Loja was back in the apartment Friday, loading a black laundry bag with woman's underwear, photo albums, a black pair of high heels and purses when the new roommate came upon him in the bathroom around 3 p.m.

Seeing the hatchet Loja had picked up outside the building to bust open a locked bedroom door, the 33-year-old woman ran for her life and fell down a flight of stairs, police said.

He climbed out a kitchen window and fled over a garage roof, police said.

The woman was taken to Greenwich (Conn.) Hospital with leg and shoulder pain.

The 26-year-old roommate provided police with a picture of Loja. Officer Walter Alcivar arrested Loja near his Fairview Avenue home several blocks away from the Washington Street apartment within minutes, police said.

Loja will face a felony first-degree burglary charge in Village Court tomorrow, police said.



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