Alleged trespasser who entered downtown Cape residence arrested

Cape Girardeau Police Department officers early Saturday morning arrested a woman wanted for trespassing after she walked into downtown Cape Girardeau residence Oct. 7.

A warrant was issued for Jamirraha Ward, 33, after she entered the residence of Michelle Antallan and Andrew Bard around 7:30 a.m. the morning of Oct. 7 via the front door. The door had been unlocked following the exit of some tenants renting a room in the couple's house. The lock is on an automatic cycle, Bard said in an interview with the Southeast Missourian last week. He said he believes Ward must have reached the door before it locked again.

The entrance startled Antallan and prompted Bard to call police about Ward; he was in the shower at the time she entered the house. He did not call 911 because he didn't feel he or his wife were in immediate danger, he said.

Cameras at Bard's home show Ward walking around his porch, looking in windows, walking to neighbors' doors and checking to see whether the passenger door of a vehicle on the street was unlocked. Bard confronted Ward and an unidentified man who drove her shortly after the incident, prompting them to leave the area prior to the police arriving.

Ward was previously arrested for trespassing in August and false declaration — providing a fake name to officers — in September after police responded to an alleged trespassing incident.

Ward has been charged with trespassing in the first degree and is being held at the Cape Girardeau County jail. Bond is set at $2,500.