LA PORTE CITY - A Tama County man who was on the lam from authorities hid out in a La Porte City home while the owner was on vacation in July, police said.

The homeowner was gone for about 10 days, and the burglar frightened her when she returned home.

The law finally caught up to the unwelcome visitor July 28 when sanitation workers spotted him sleeping in a garage and thought he was a corpse, said Police Chief Larry Feaker.

"They didn't know if it was somebody dead," Feaker said.

Officers arrested Jamie Patrick Unker, 31, for second-degree burglary, two counts of third-degree burglary and eight counts of forgery.

Unker knew the La Porte City woman through her daughter and learned she would be on vacation in July, Feaker said.

He got into her Locust Street home through a window on July 10 and began living there, according to Feaker and court records.

He also passed checks taken from the house at Thriftway and Casey's General Store, buying alcohol, cigarettes and food, records state.

The resident returned July 27 and took a nap on her couch. Unker, apparently unaware she was back, re-entered the house, records state. She was startled and fled into the bathroom to call police.

La Porte police and the Black Hawk County Sheriff's Office tactical unit surrounded the house, but Unker fled through the back door before they arrived, records state.

On July 28, Unker was spotted sleeping in an apartment complex garage on East Main Street and arrested, Feaker said.

Contact Jeff Reinitz at (319) 291-1578 or jeff.reinitz@wcfcourier.com.