MANATEE -- Charges against a Holmes Beach man were dropped after he was arrested last year for allegedly stealing panties from his neighbor’s bedroom.

On Dec. 2, a notice was filed by the State Attorney’s Office in Ernest Kendler’s case, dropping the charge of burglary in an occupied dwelling, a second-degree felony.

On Nov. 6, 2010, a man allegedly entered a house on the 100 block of Neptune Lane.

A woman said she found him in her sister’s bedroom rummaging through a drawer full of panties, an arrest report said.

The man walked out and left when the woman said, “Hello?”

Kendler, 63, told police he was not in his neighbor’s home, according to the report.

On Dec. 14, 2010, a search warrant was executed at his house, where authorities found two pairs of underwear that matched the ones missing from the victim’s home.