Man charged in Halloween attack

A Huntington Beach man was charged Wednesday with breaking into an Anaheim couple’s residence on Halloween night and sexually assaulting a woman as she slept next to her husband.

Christopher David Schwanke, 35, allegedly broke into the victim’s home through a back door about 11 p.m. and entered the bedroom, where the couple was sleeping, and sexually assaulted the wife by digitally penetrating her.

The woman awoke, then woke her husband when she realized he was asleep. Schwanke is accused of attempting to hide by lying on the floor next to the wife’s side of the bed, where the husband found him and tackled him.

Schwanke was arrested by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department. Earlier that night, the couple had spotted Schwanke in the neighborhood while they handed out candy to trick-or-treaters, according to the Orange County district attorney’s office.

Schwanke is charged with one felony count each of sexual penetration by foreign object by force, sexual penetration by foreign object of an unconscious victim and first-degree residential burglary of an inhabited dwelling, according to the district attorney’s office.

He is also charged with sentencing enhancement allegations for committing a sexual offense in the commission of a burglary, having a non-accomplice present during a residential burglary and two prior prison convictions for petty theft with a prior in 2006 and possession of methamphetamine in 2007.

Schwanke, who faces a maximum of 15 years to life in state prison, was scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday. The prosecution planned to request $1-million bail, according to the district attorney’s office.

Anyone with additional information is encouraged to contact Supervising District Attorney Investigator Lou Gutierrez at (714) 347-8794 or the sheriff’s department’s tip hotline at (855) 847-6227.

michael.miller@latimes.com

Twitter: @MichaelMillerHB