That friend said the victim told her the maintenance worker at Raleigh Millbank Apartments on Raleigh Boulevard used his pass key to get into her apartment where she was sleeping with her children.
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"She woke up to him kissing and touching on her and she didn't want to react too much because her children were in the bed with her," the friend, who didn't want to be identified, told ABC11.
The friend said the situation became more scary and bizarre.
"She pushed him off and he tried to go further but she kept pushing him off and she said he asked her did she want him to leave. I thought that was kind of weird," she said.
She also said the victim recognized Mario Lamont Johnson not only as a maintenance man at the complex but also a neighbor who lives in her building.
The friend stated, "She started crying because she was just in shock that her neighbor could do that to her."
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Raleigh police have charged Johnson, 45, with a forced sex offense, attempted rape, and first-degree burglary.
But investigators said there was no sign of forced entry.
The victim's friend said Johnson didn't need to force his way in because he used his master key.
That was upsetting to Jeanette Aughenbaugh who lives in an adjacent building.
"They're keeping keys to the apartments for maintenance to come and do work while residents aren't home and I've always had a problem with that and now to know that this is going on. That's just not right," she said.
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But what has upset her, even more, is that she had to find out about the crime from a reporter and not the management at Raleigh Millbank Apartments.
"I definitely should have been informed. There's children here, single women who live here," Aughenbaugh said.
It's not clear when or even if management knew about the crime.
ABC11 reached out to them but got no response.
Johnson is still in jail on a $500,000 bond.