Police in Vancouver, Washington, responded to calls from a man who called to report that he had gotten trapped on Sunday inside an escape room at a local amusement business.
Clark County Sheriff’s Officers arrested Rye D. Wardlaw, 40, when they discovered evidence that he became trapped in an escape room at NW Escape Experience in Hazel Dell in Clark County, Daily News reported.
An escape room is part of a game that challenges players to solve a series of puzzles in order to find the escape route out of the room.
But officers say that the homeless Wardlaw was trying to burglarize the business, and they charged him with damaging the property in a variety of ways.
The suspect allegedly called 911 several times after becoming trapped in the escape room, but officials say he gave a false address about where he was. Police eventually tracked the phone call to the Hazel Dell business.
Wardlaw was no longer trapped in the room by the time police arrived, but surveillance video was used to identify him as a suspect. Police later found him walking around the area and arrested him. Officers also found him in possession of items stolen from the business.
Business owners Rob and Tamara Bertrand told the Daily Mail that they discovered a lot of damage to their property.
A back door was damaged with the handle broken off. And an electrical room was also broken into.
The business owners said that they think Wardlaw tried to gain access to other parts of the business by breaking through a bathroom wall but gave up before finding the electrical room. Then, they say he broke into the escape room by breaking through the electrical room wall.
Wardlaw was charged with second-degree burglary and had bail set at $40,000.
Business owner Tamara Bertrand later joked that her escape room now has “a zero percent escape rate with criminals.”
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.