SKOWHEGAN — Police are looking for a man they say broke into a Mount Pleasant Avenue home Wednesday and threatened to stab the homeowner while demanding money.

The owner of the home found the door open and a man standing in the living room at around 4:44 a.m. Wednesday, according to a press release from the Skowhegan Police Department. The man threatened to stab the homeowner and demanded money.

“He said, ‘I will stab you,’ and he moved in such a fashion that it looked like he had something in his hand, but the victim could not say whether it was a knife. He knew he had something in his hand and assumed it was a knife, but it wasn’t clear cut. The lighting wasn’t good and it happened so fast,” said Skowhegan Police Chief Ted Blais.

The homeowner, whose identity was not released, told the man to leave and yelled to other people in the house, prompting the man to flee, according to the release. It did not appear that the man had forced entry into the house, although the homeowner said the door is always locked, Blais said.

“That’s an unknown. Whether it was truly locked, I don’t know,” he said.

Police responded with a dog and tracked the scent of the man toward the Skowhegan walking trail, but couldn’t find him. He is described as a white man in his 20s, about 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighing about 160 pounds. He was wearing a camouflage jacket and had a bright orange backpack.

As the investigation continues, police said potential charges include robbery, burglary and criminal trespassing.

It was the third time in the past several weeks in which a person was accosted by another threatening to use a knife in Skowhegan.

Earlier this month, a woman was threatened outside the United Steelworkers Local 9 Poulin-Turner Hall on Waterville Road by a man who tapped on the window of her car with a knife and demanded money.

In October, a knife-wielding man attempted to rob West Front Street Market. No charges have been filed in either of those cases, and police said in the release that they aren’t sure whether the Wednesday incident was related to the other two.

“We followed many leads, and they’ve all come to dead ends,” Blais said. “We still don’t have anything solid going forward on those. We received a lot of support and tips, and we keep digging.”

The description of the man involved in Wednesday’s burglary is similar to the description of the man in the union hall robbery, but without facial hair, said Blais. He said he believes the motives in all of the robberies are drug related and are being committed by people, or a person, desperate for money to pay for drugs.

“It’s interesting. We don’t usually have robberies like this, but desperate people do desperate things,” Blais said.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Skowhegan Police Department through the Somerset County Communications Center at 474-6386.

Rachel Ohm — 612-2368

rohm@centralmaine.com

Twitter: @rachel_ohm