Uninvited and unwelcome visitor to be charged with felony residential entry

Robert Jason Clifft

A warrant was out for the arrest of a 41-year-old Bedford man, formerly from Greene County, who turned himself in at the Greene County Sheriff’s Department on Monday.

He’s accused of residential entry, a Level 6 felony, involving walking in to a rural Bloomfield man’s house where he was not invited and not welcome.

Robert Jason Clifft was arrested on a warrant Monday morning, then released after he posted $400 cash on his bond set at $4,000 with ten percent allowed.

Greene County Sheriff’s Deputy David Elmore investigated this case. A complaint was reported on Monday, March 19, by a man who lives on East Michaels Road in rural Bloomfield who said Clifft had trespassed on his property and had gotten physical with him.

After Deputy Elmore interviewed both the resident in person and by phone, and Clifft by phone, and prepared a probable cause affidavit, a criminal case was filed against Clifft and a warrant issued on April 2.

Elmore detailed his conversations with both men, who told slightly different stories.

The resident said Clifft pulled in his driveway, got out, stomped on his porch, opened his back door and walked in without permission. The resident said he walked to the door and told Clifft to get out.

The man said Clifft then started to yell at him about Clifft’s sister’s death and about Clifft’s mother. He explained to the deputy that he had been divorced from Clifft’s mother for about five years and Clifft’s sister died in a car crash years ago.

He said he asked Clifft to leave multiple times. He said when Clifft started to poke his chest and cuss at him, he grabbed Clifft by the throat and attempted to physically push him out the back door. Clifft then broke free and left.

He also said Clifft had been told not to come on his property and that it was unusual for Clifft to show up at his home.

When Elmore spoke to Clifft, he allegedly said he went to visit the man and was let inside the house but an argument started. He said the man grabbed him by the throat, so he (Clifft) pushed him away and left. He denied poking the man in the chest and said he was never told he was not allowed on the property.

Court records show Clifft with a home address in Greene County. His booking information at the jail shows him with a home address in Bedford.

Clifft is scheduled to appear at an initial hearing in Greene Superior Court on Monday, June 11.