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SALT LAKE CITY — A man accused of breaking into a West Jordan home while under the influence of drugs, threatening a woman and her children not to call police, has been sentenced to prison.
Cameron Mark Waters, 30, was ordered May 16 to serve one to 15 years in prison for burglary, a second-degree felony.
Waters, of Salt Lake City, pleaded guilty May 4, and additional charges were dismissed, including kidnapping, a second-degree felony; possession of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person, a third-degree felony; failure to stop at the command of a police officer and attempted damaging of a jail, both class A misdemeanors; and criminal trespass and possession of drug paraphernalia, both class B misdemeanors.
According to police, Waters had hopped a fence at a center for domestic violence victims in West Jordan on Sept. 23, then fled from responding officers. He had been running through yards near 2700 West and 7700 South when he broke into the home of Chelsea Eddington and her family later that day.
Eddington said she was watching a movie with her 4-year-old and 7-month-old daughters when she heard a crash. She went downstairs to investigate and found Waters, shirtless and bruised, standing in her house.
Eddington said Waters reassured her he wasn't there to hurt her, but bristled when she asked if she should call the police for him.
"He kind of turned a little hostile and was like, 'No. Don't call the cops. Don't look out your window. You have to be quiet,'" Eddington said. "And when he said that, I knew I had to go call the cops."
Sitting in a bedroom with her children and Waters, Eddington said she managed to covertly text her husband, instructing him to call 911.
When police arrived, "Waters told Ms. Eddington to answer the door and tell police that he was not there," court documents say.
Eddington was able to confirm through nods that something was wrong inside the house, she said. Police entered and arrested Waters.
When he was arrested, charges state Waters was carrying a 6-inch switchblade, used syringes and a driver's license that didn't belong to him. He told police he had been using methamphetamine.
