A Florida home incident took an unexpected turn when the intruder picked the wrong house – one occupied by a trained mixed martial arts competitor who wasn’t about to let anyone threaten his family.
Austin Caresani, 31, found himself on the wrong end of a painful lesson Saturday night in Wilton Manors, a city outside Fort Lauderdale. His subsequent mugshot told the whole story: a face covered in bruises and cuts, the unmistakable calling cards of an encounter with Henny Rojas, the homeowner’s son-in-law who happens to be skilled in MMA.
The incident began when Rojas heard his teenage nephew screaming that there was a stranger in their living room. What happened next was pure instinct for the martial artist, who has been training in MMA for three years.
“I don’t feel pain – nothing,”
Rojas told local CBS affiliate CBS12.
“I’m prepared. This was not my first time.”
Armed with nothing but his hands and his training, Rojas quickly restrained the alleged intruder. The physical evidence of their encounter was unmistakably displayed across Caresani’s battered face in his arrest photo.
“It’s too fast, I don’t remember, I just protect my family and that’s it,”
Rojas recalled to NBC Miami, describing the split-second decision that led to the intruder’s quick defeat.
The homeowners confirmed they had never seen Caresani before and had no idea who he was or why he had entered their residence. According to police reports, Caresani later claimed he was looking for a friend’s home in the area and had become confused about his location.
When authorities arrived at the scene, Caresani attempted to flee but was quickly apprehended by responding officers. The Wilton Manors Police Department charged him with home intrusion without a firearm or weapon.
For Rojas, the encounter reinforced his protective instincts.
“We’re not scared, I’m not scared,”
he stated, emphasizing his commitment to defending his family at all costs.
The case moved quickly through the legal system. Caresani appeared in court on Monday, where a judge set his bond at $20,000 and issued a stay-away order prohibiting him from going near the family’s home.
In this case, Caresani’s poor decision-making led him straight into the capable hands of someone trained to handle exactly such situations – and his bruised and battered appearance made it clear that this was one lesson he wouldn’t soon forget.
