Man breaks into Cleveland home, robs teacher in front of her online students

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - A Cleveland woman was teaching class online when a man broke into her house, threatened her with a knife, and robbed her of watches and her husband’s wedding ring, according to a Cleveland police report.

Amanda Zupancic was teaching via Zoom shortly after 11 am on November 23 from her home office on Baltic Avenue on Cleveland’s West Side when she heard a strange noise, the report says.

“I think someone’s breaking into my house,” she said to her students before stepping away from her computer screen.

Zupancic confronted a strange man on her staircase leading to the second floor of her home.

The man, identified by police as Charles Derosett, 43, of Cleveland, ordered Zupancic into her bedroom and said, “Get on the (expletive) ground. I’m gonna cut your (expletive) throat. Give me your wallet and keys,” according to the police report.

Zupancic told police that she told Derosett that her keys were downstairs, and he allowed her to go down to the first floor.

However, instead of handing over her keys, Zupancic released her dogs who went after Derosett.

Derosett fled the house carrying two boxes with watches and her husband’s wedding ring, according to the report.

Zupancic ran after Derosett armed with a pair of scissors and screaming for help.

Two men doing work on a house nearby heard Zupancic’s screams. One confronted Derosett, who began “thrashing at him with a knife,” according to the report.

One of the men, Robert Tubbs, Jr., 39, of Cleveland, got Derosett to drop the boxes and saw him throw the knife to the ground. Derosett was arrested by the Rapid Transit Authority police on Desmond Avenue.

A student’s mother - who was also on the call when the Derosett broke in - called the police after hearing a man tell the teacher to “Get on the floor, or I’ll cut your (expletive) throat,” according to Cleveland police report.

Zupancic is a special education teacher at Kirtland Local Schools, according to ABC News.

Zupancic was interviewed on Good Morning America about the burglary. Her husband and 1-year-old child had left the home less than a half and hour before Derosett broke in through a window, she told the program.

The watches were recovered, police say, but the wedding ring remains lost.

Derosett was charged with aggravated burglary, aggravated robbery, and two counts of felonious assault, according to court records.

He has a criminal history stretching back to an arrest for burglary in 1998, court records show.