A Ruston woman who had been out of prison less than 24 hours was arrested Monday afternoon after deputies said she forced her way into a Simsboro-area residence looking for a former boyfriend.
Jessica Miranda Woods, 41, was booked into the Lincoln Parish Detention Center on counts of home invasion, simple criminal damage to property and contributing to the delinquency of juveniles, according to an affidavit.
Lincoln Parish sheriff’s deputies were sent Monday to a residence on Louisiana Highway 507 in reference to an unwanted guest. While a deputy was en route, dispatchers advised that the guest had forced entry into the home and had left in a Ford pickup.
Simsboro Police Chief Gene Butler was in the area, saw the pickup pass him on La. 507 and stopped the vehicle in Simsboro. Four people were inside — Woods, a 17-year-old male driver and two female juveniles. Woods and the driver were both taken into custody and advised of their rights.
Woods told deputies she had been in prison for the past four years and had been out for less than a day. She said she went to her boyfriend’s house because she was afraid he had passed out on drugs, and that when she called out and someone answered ,”Who is it?” she went in. “The door was open, I just opened it,” she said.
The driver told deputies Woods had just gotten out of jail and asked for a ride to Walmart and then to see the man she had been in a relationship with before going to prison. He said the group beat on the windows and doors, and that Woods opened the screen door and went inside.
The woman who was inside the residence told deputies she is dating Woods’ ex-boyfriend and has lived at the residence on and off. She said the ex-boyfriend broke off contact with Woods several months ago and that she had been warned Woods might try to do “something crazy” once she was released. She said people began banging on her door and windows, that Woods broke the screen door coming in, and that she told Woods the ex-boyfriend was not there and to leave. Woods kept trying to force her way into the bedroom of the residence before giving up and leaving, the woman said. She told deputies she was afraid, and that her dog became agitated trying to protect her.
Deputies found comparable residence doors listed online and put the damage at about $1,400.
Woods told deputies she also lives at the residence, but the address on her driver’s license does not match it and she had been incarcerated for more than four years. A criminal history check showed a guilty conviction for home invasion among other charges in Jackson Parish stemming from a 2022 incident, and she is on felony probation.
This information has been provided by a law enforcement agency as public information. Persons named or shown in photographs or video as suspects in a criminal investigation, or arrested and charged with a crime, have not been convicted of any criminal offense and are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
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