A Hazel Crest, Illinois woman is in custody after police said she entered a Jackson Township house on Friday afternoon while the resident was away and set it on fire while claiming she was a home health nurse checking on a patient who lived there.
That morning, a Portage Township resident reported the same woman had entered their home, spoken to one of the residents in her bedroom and left, police said.
Veronica Makokha, 44, is charged with arson and burglary, both Level 4 felonies, in the Jackson Township case, and faces a residential entry charge, a Level 6 felony, in Portage Township.
Deputies with the Porter County Sheriff’s Department were dispatched around 1:08 p.m. June 7 for a report of a residential fire in progress in the 700 block of Dodge Trail in Jackson Township.
Witnesses told police they had seen a Black woman leaving the burning residence, possibly with no clothing on, and that she got into a black car with Illinois license plates and drove southbound on Dodge Trail.
Police searched for the woman, later identified as Makokha, on foot and found her car behind a nearby property. A dog was inside the vehicle and police found Makokha nearby.
Makokha told police she works as a home health nurse and was going to the residence to check on a patient, “Richard Clark,” who she said lived there. She told police she knocked on the front door and when no one answered, she went to the rear of the residence and went inside through an unlocked door.
She told police she started looking for Clark inside, first in the basement, and that she could smell smoke inside the house. She saw smoke on the main level, ran to the second level to find Clark, and then left the burning home.
“She added the gown she was wearing had caught on fire, so she had ripped it off, leaving her in only her underwear,” police said.
Makokha told police she got in her car and left to find help from the neighbors and said she drove into the backyard of a nearby home because “she inhaled too much smoke from the house fire and must have been confused.”
She told police she left the car’s air conditioning on for the dog while she went to look for water for her burning throat.
“(Makokha) stated the dog was not hers and that she obtained it from a different client’s house earlier in the day, adding that this client was also not home,” police said.
Neighbors told police that “Richard Clark” does not live at the residence and that the homeowner was on vacation. Neighbors contacted the homeowner, who said nobody else should be in the home.
She was checked by EMS in Jackson Township and later was transported by ambulance to Northwest Health-Porter for a medical evaluation before being taken to Porter County Jail.
The Indiana State Fire Marshal is investigating the fire, police said.
Mokhaka has been identified as the same person who entered a Portage Township residence earlier that day.
Around 7:28 a.m. Friday morning, sheriff’s deputies were called to a residence in the 600 West block of County Road 700 North in Portage Township for a report of a residential entry.
The caller told police that they observed a Black woman “walking around the residence in a bathrobe and that the female appeared to be confused.”
One of the home’s residents told police she woke up to her dog growling and her bedroom door opening, and that a Black female entered her room and stood next to her bed. The woman was “wearing a blue bathrobe, a backpack and a hat that belonged to (the victim),” police said.
The resident told police that the woman told her she looked pretty, grabbed her hand and asked what she did for work. The resident asked the woman where her father was and told her to put down the backpack.
The victim told police that “the woman then exited the residence” where she and her father saw her get into a car parked on the front lawn and drive toward South Haven.
Police were not able to locate the woman, later identified as Makokha, or her car, but did track the car to her through its license plate.
Police confirmed they are investigating a third reported burglary, also in Jackson Township, that could result in additional charges against Makokha.
alavalley@chicagotribune.com
