Cops: Woman Tries to Break Into Ex's House, Gets Stuck

Firefighters rescue Genoveva Nunez-Figueroa from chimney
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 20, 2014 9:05 AM CDT
Cops: Woman Tries to Break Into Ex's House, Gets Stuck
Stock image   (Shutterstock)

Here's a tip for would-be home invaders: You might want to consider attempting to break in via a window or a door ... instead of, say, the chimney. Authorities say that's the route Genoveva Nunez-Figueroa decided to take early yesterday in Thousand Oaks, Calif., and things went very wrong, KTLA reports. Deputies responded to a 5:45am call reporting that the woman, variously reported as 28 or 30 years old, had been stuck in the chimney for two to three hours; neighbors called after hearing her screams, according to CBS LA. Firefighters used jackhammers to partially dismantle the chimney and lubricated the flue with dish soap before lifting Nunez-Figueroa out. What was she doing in there in the first place? Well, it's not clear, but she'd gone on six dates with the homeowner—who wasn't home at the time—after meeting him online, and he says he'd recently ended the relationship.

The Sheriff's Department says her "intent was unclear." Whatever she was trying to do, this wasn't her first time: The homeowner also saw her on his roof two weeks ago and called the cops, but she fled, ABC30 reports. This time around, she was arrested after being removed from the chimney at 8:22am; she was also taken to a local hospital for evaluation. She had been stuck about 8 feet from the top and was conscious during the rescue. Her current condition isn't known, but she faces charges of illegally entering a residence and providing false information to a peace officer. The homeowner says he's learned a valuable lesson: "Before you have somebody come in your house, really check them out," he says. "Having someone in your chimney is like kind of a weird thing you wouldn't expect to come home to." (Another kind of weird thing you wouldn't expect to come home to: a box full of cocaine, heroin, and meth you didn't order.)

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