A babysitter in Kansas who was asked by a child to check for monsters under their bed was stunned to discover a man hiding there, police have said.

The shocking incident occurred on 24 March at a property just outside the city of Great Bend, when the sitter was seeking to put the children she was looking after to bed. However, one of them was afraid.

“One child complained there was a ‘monster’ under their bed. When the victim attempted to show the child there was nothing under the bed, she came face-to-face with a male suspect who was hiding there,” police said in a statement.

“An altercation ensued with the babysitter and one child was knocked over in the struggle. The suspect then fled the scene before deputies arrived.”

After police got to the property the victim identified the suspect as Martin Villalobos Jr, 27, who once lived there.

The next morning, deputies spotted Villalobos and after a short short chase on foot caught and arrested him.

Villalobos was charged with aggravated kidnapping, aggravated burglary, aggravated battery, child endangerment, felony obstruction of a law enforcement officer and violation of a protection from abuse order. He is being held in lieu of a $500,000 bond.