A Belleville father says that he confronted and fought with a hooded burglar who was walking in and out of his children's rooms.

The incident happened on Aug. 17. Maykol Maldonado and his wife Milagros were asleep in the basement when they received a call from their daughter.

"We heard him start going down the stairs, I turned on the light then I heard him run down the stairs and I took my sisters phone and called my mom," says Abigail Maldonado.

Just moments earlier, Abigail says she saw the hooded man calmly walking in and out of her sibling's room.

Maykol says that when he came upstairs he found that man standing in his living room.

"And then he looked at me and he said 'I was upstairs.' He's talking to me really calm, and then I see him walking out," Maykol says. "That's when I have the will to grab him...and he just wrestles with me for a little bit."

The burglar was able to get away and escaped. Police say he was able to get into the home through an open window in the kitchen.

"The really shocking moment was when I realized he had gone through my whole house, because that night it rained, and you see the mud, all over, he went in my room while I was sleeping," Maykol says.

The hooded man only took $40, but left all of the family's electronics, according to Maykol.

Belleville police say that they are investigating the incident and are warning residents to remain vigilant.

"We take this very seriously, this is a high priority job we are working on in the department," says Belleville Police Chief Mark Minichini. "We've bumped up patrols in the area, saturation patrols. We have our investigators working practically around the clock."

Chief Minichini says that two similar incidents happened in this neighborhood, but one was thwarted by an alarm system.

Residents are reminded to lock their windows and set their security alarms.