Neighbors react to sex offender breaking into homes

Police are asking anyone who may have had an experience with the registered sex offender to come forward.

Early Wednesday morning, police say a woman in east Lincoln near 84th and Holdrege woke up to a complete stranger standing at the foot of her bed.

“We’ve had you know, questionable cars that have hung out at like the end of the street near the playground but nothing you know to this extent,” says Miranda Gruber, a neighbor in the area.

Police arrested Adris Khalaf, a registered sex offender, on multiple burglary charges after he was identified by the victim. Officials say this victim isn’t alone.

Just a day earlier, Khalaf reportedly broke into two other homes of women, also watching another woman sleep. That victim told police he was rubbing her shoulders and making sexual comments.

Miranda Gruber, a neighbor who lives in the area of one of the incidents says she was shocked when she heard the news.

“I was super scared, I was like wow that’s super close to me,” Gruber tells Channel 8 Eyewitness News reporter Marlo Lundak. “My husband was reading the news on his phone and he had that reaction of ‘oh my gosh’ and he read the article to me and, you know, it’s just super close to home and I have a kid here and there are kids all around here.”

A victim of Khalaf spoke with Channel 8 News, saying it all happened about 30 minutes after her boyfriend had left for work.

“My kids weren’t home at the time, thank God,” she says.

The victim says Khalaf was standing in her room, on the second level of her home, and turned on her bedroom light, waking her up. The victim says Khalaf claimed he was trying to get out of the rain, and that he knocked on the front door for 10 minutes.

It’s still unclear how Khalaf entered the home, as the victim says all her doors were locked.

“It’s sad to say that, yeah, we have to keep our doors locked all the time because nowadays you just never know,” says Gruber.

Lincoln Police officer Luke Bonkiewicz says that Khalaf is currently still in jail, and there’s no threat to the public. But the department suspects there could be more victims of Khalaf, and are asking anyone with encounters with him to contact police at 402-441-6000.