A 24-year-old Oak Harbor man who removed an ankle bracelet while he was supposed to be under house arrest could face a long prison term, court documents state.

Dedrick Johnson pleaded not guilty in Island County Superior Court Dec. 22 to first-degree escape.

Last April, Johnson pleaded guilty to residential burglary and trafficking in stolen property and was sentenced to three years of electronic home monitoring.

But on Dec. 10, Oak Harbor police responded to reports of a man, later identified as Johnson, acting suspiciously at a couple of apartment buildings in the northwest area of the city, the report states.

According to Officer Jennifer Rutledge’s report, a NW Crosby Avenue resident said that Johnson attempted to open her door. An hour later, a resident at a NW Falls Creek apartment reported that Johnson asked to use his phone and acted oddly. When the resident declined, Johnson hid next to the door, the officer wrote.

Rutledge arrested Johnson on a warrant. Johnson denied that he had been knocking on doors, but claimed he was trying to keep warm at the apartment building because his mother and brother kicked him out of their homes.

At the jail, the officer discovered that Johnson was supposed to be wearing an electronic ankle bracelet, but he apparently removed it, Rutledge wrote.

Johnson is being held in jail in lieu of a $40,000 bail bond.

If convicted of first-degree escape, Johnson could face more than four years in prison.