GRANITE CITY, IL – Unwanted guest is causing even more undesirable problems for some Granite City residents.

Cockroaches by large numbers are spreading to different homes.

The homeowner, Jerry King, says he’s certain this vacant house next door is the haven.

“I don’t know by the hundreds,” King said. “Every night I open my door they’re at my doorstep trying to get in my house. I go to the back door and open my door, they fall all over me.”

About a month ago, King had neighbors who lived inside.

“Since they’ve moved out, they have no food source or water source so they’re [roaches] just coming over,” the homeowner said.

Nowadays, a red warning from Granite City Building Inspection Department hangs on the front door.

Since the city forced the family to move out, King says the roaches are now making a b-line for warm spaces on his and his neighbor’s properties.

“I’ll have to move out of my own house,” he said. “I’m up until four in the morning killing roaches. I can’t sleep, I’m afraid they’re going to be crawling all over me.”

Frustrated, the war veteran tried taking his complaints to city hall.

King recalls city leaders saying they will come to spray and possibly knock down the house within the next few months.

But with the cockroaches on the move, the homeowner is worried demolition won’t come as fast as needed.

“The house needs to be professionally exterminated,” King said. “Otherwise, they are just going to run everywhere.”

For now, King and his neighbors will have to keep stomping on them until the roach-infested home is handled and the unsolicited guest makes their way somewhere else.