UGA students living in fear after maintenance worker arrested for burglary, stalking

ATHENS, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - Two University of Georgia students said they were living in fear after doorbell camera footage showed their apartment complex’s maintenance worker letting himself into their off-campus apartment in the middle of the night.

The video led police to arrest Michael Perkins on charges of stalking and burglary. He could post as little as $300 to bond out, and the two young women were concerned he knows where they live.

Andrea Papacostas and her roommate Alexis Nguyen watched the doorbell camera video that has these University of Georgia seniors afraid to sleep in their own beds.

It started when Perkins showed up to install a new water heater at the Riverbend Club Apartments. Video shows he went right for their liquor cart. The police report says “the maintenance guy then drank a whole bottle of liquor” and “passed out on the living room floor.”

“We saw our maintenance man drinking our alcohol, taking at least very big gulps of our alcohol,” Papacostas said. “You see him passed out on the floor. You see him get up, punch his hands, punch his fists, his palms. You see him punch our front door, the wall by our front door.”

The video shows Perkins consuming alcohol straight from the bottle and laying down on the living room floor for five minutes, all with the apartment door wide open in December.

“Consuming our alcohol straight from the handle,” Nguyen said. “So taking it in straight to his mouth and dumping it into his mouth. And he was also seen passing out on our floor.”

Worker returns at 4 a.m., tries to enter apartment

Perkins wandered around the apartment for a while before eventually closing the front door around 7:45 p.m. on December 11. But he didn’t leave right away. He rang the doorbell, but a hand repeatedly covered the camera.

That wasn’t the end. Perkins appears at the door again at 4 a.m. the next morning, on Dec. 12, 2025

When asked what was most disturbing about the video,“ Papacostas replied, “Coming at four o’clock in the morning, at a time where most people are sleeping, him trying to enter our apartment.”

The video shows Perkins trying the door handle without a key.

“He’s reaching for the doorknob and he is seen twisting the doorknob without a key and without knowing that it’s locked,” Nguyen said.

The women were not home. They had just left for winter break.

“My mind goes to a whole bunch of scenarios of what could have happened if I was sleeping, or my roommate was sleeping in our rooms,” Papacostas said.

Nguyen was jolted awake by the sound of her Ring doorbell and watched the rest unfold via live video on the app.

The video captures Perkins saying “They’re dead” after the students didn’t answer phone calls or the door.

“He was heard saying that they are dead, quote unquote, they are dead. And that was after we didn’t answer the phone calls and we didn’t answer the door,” Nguyen said.

“What is this guy thinking? Clearly, it has to be about us, because you are outside of our apartment trying to enter at four o’clock, and then you are heard saying, ‘They are dead,’” Papacostas said.

Worker uses key to enter apartment

The video shows Perkins slowly trying to put a key in the door while appearing to hide from the camera:

• Nguyen over the Ring camera: “Can I help you? It’s four thirty A-M,”
• Perkins: “Yeah, I didn’t hook up your water heater, and not only did I not hook up your water heater, but I left my phone.”
• Nguyen: “Hurry up and go get it please. It’s way too early.”
• Perkins, before letting himself in: “I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”

That led the roommates to check all the video. Once they saw recordings of him drinking and sprawled out on the floor hours earlier, they contacted the police and the apartment manager.

The apartment complex fired Perkins and changed the locks, but the students said that wasn’t enough.

• Atlanta News First Investigates: “It’s been two weeks since you sent a letter asking to be moved?”
• Papacostas: “Yes.”
• Atlanta News First Investigates: “And it’s been a month since he was arrested?”
• Papacostas: “Yes.”
• Atlanta News First Investigates: “And you’re still in this apartment?”
• Papacostas: “Correct. Yes. No action has been taken besides changing our locks.”

Complex offers lease termination after interviews

Riverbend Club Apartments and their attorney did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Emails obtained by Atlanta News First Investigates show the day after our interviews with the students, the complex offered to let them out of their lease and pay for the alcohol and moving expenses.

“Unfortunately, Riverbend Club does not have a unit available for them to relocate,” the apartment’s attorney told them.

The students would have to agree not to sue the apartments, and the complex would not admit any liability, the initial offer letter said.

“I mean, my life is at stake. I feel like who knows after he makes bond, he might want to seek revenge, that we put him in a place, that we put him in jail. My mind just wanders as to what could happen to me or my roommate,” Papacostas said.

“I do not feel safe whatsoever,” she said. “I do not feel safe. I have never felt more unsafe in my entire life.”

The interviews and all communication between Atlanta News First Investigates and the students took place before the apartment complex and the students reached a confidential agreement. As part of that agreement, the students were required to notify ANF Investigates that “Riverbend Club agreed to our requests, and this matter has been resolved.”

Perkins was not available for comment. He is in jail on charges of stalking and burglary. His bond is set at $3,000 but he can post 10 percent of that with a bonding agency.

Nguyen sought a 12-month stalking protective order against Perkins, and a Clarke County judge has granted that. At last check, the seniors were looking for a place to live for the next four months until graduation.

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