Suspect barged into sheriff’s house by mistake

A Mineral County man, allegedly high on crystal meth, made a costly mistake when he thought he was visiting his uncle. Instead, Matthew O’Reilly, 20, of Keyser showed up at the home of Mineral County Sheriff Jeremy Taylor only minutes after the sheriff had left for the day.

“Three minutes after I left, he pulled into my driveway, came up and knocked on the door,” said Taylor. “My wife answers the door and he actually pushed on the door and forced his way into the residence.”

Taylor said O’Reilly then moved through the living room and into the kitchen where he started helping himself to food in the cabinets and refrigerator. He was acting odd, leading Mrs. Taylor to believe he might have a medical condition and needed help. She offered to call an ambulance, but Taylor said that only aggravated the suspect.

“He got very defensive and actually stepped in front of her and said, ‘No I don’t want you to call anybody,’” said Taylor. “He was real nervous acting and constantly looking out the windows and doors.”

Taylor’s wife finally made it to a phone where she called him and said there was an unwelcome guest at the house. Taylor left a legislative breakfast and bolted to his home where he found O’Reilly sitting at his kitchen table.

“Through my training and experience, I knew he was high on some type of drug,” said Taylor .

Eventually, Taylor said O’Reilly admitted he’d taken crystal meth around 5 a.m. A subsequent search of his vehicle revealed another gram of the drug.

O’Reilly was arrested on a charge of buglary and taken to jail. Other charges are pending.

The best Sheriff Taylor can surmise is O’Reilly thought he was at somebody else’s home.

“He was mistaking my house for his uncle’s was one story. The other story was he just needed a drink of water, he just needed help. The list goes on as to why he was there,” Taylor said. “He obviously picked the wrong house to stop at that morning.”