The California man who hid for 6 months in a secret room inside Circuit City

162 points by perpil 1 year ago | 91 comments
  • Daub 1 year ago
    I once had a teaching job around 100 miles away from where I lived. I taught two days in a row so it made sense to stay overnight. Rather than rent a room I hid out overnight in an windowless store room. Personal hygiene was the first victim, but as I was teaching a smelly subject (painting) no one seemed to notice.
    • blkhawk 1 year ago
      You normally don't start to smell from one skipped shower if you bring clean cloths (mainly underwear) and can spritz some water in your face in toilets. Having Shorter hair and brushing your teeth at say the toilet sink would help as well.
      • KwisatzHaderack 1 year ago
        > can spritz some water in your face in toilets

        I personally prefer spritzing my face with a faucet instead of a toilet.

        • yurishimo 1 year ago
          English as a first vs second language in action! Also, much of the European world refers to a "powder room" as a toilet, which generally might only include the toilet bowl as well as a small sink for handwashing.
    • tromp 1 year ago
      > As Allen approached the dark spot, he saw a makeshift door, painted to blend in with the wall. Inside, he discovered the lair.

      This story reminds me of the movie "Inside Man" [1], where a bank robber hides with the loot behind a fake wall in the bank, until the police investigation is done, and he can just walk out.

      [1] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0454848/

      • 1 year ago
      • HenryBemis 1 year ago
        It would be super interesting if this man's psychoanalysis' notes are ever published. Did he ever think that he would be re-integrated back to society? Was he planning to steal someone's identity? Was he planning to live like this forever? Was he planning to build "a cabin in the woods" (Walden) and move there at a later age? What was his plan for when he reached the age of 60-70? A robbery of $100k isn't 'enough'. Was he plan to keep robbing once-per-year?

        I think the 'I lost focus' is very accurate and describes a lot on his life. At least he didn't kill anyone. I hope he finds the peace he needs.

        • mcculley 1 year ago
          I know a lot of people who are not planning ahead for old age. The Venn diagram of people who cannot think ahead and people who are incarcerated has a lot of overlap.
        • ro_bit 1 year ago
          > After rounding up the employees, he would direct them to grab their jackets before herding them into the walk-in freezer. Once they were locked inside, he raided the store, then called police to alert them to the frigid workers.

          Aren't freezers designed to be very easy to get out of from the inside? Is there something I'm missing about confining people in a freezer? Maybe it blocks cell reception or he's blocking the doors

          • defrost 1 year ago
            As OrigamiPastrami notes there are real accidental deaths in specific freezers.

            That said most freezers by law have an internal quick release that should work even if there's a padlock through the secure holes on the outside latch.

            It's probable he has barricaded the door with something heavy and told the people inside that the first one out the door will be shot dead.

            Quora suggested jamming the extraction fans to stop the freezer working and potentially triggering a service alarm should the quick release not work:

            https://www.quora.com/What-if-I-accidentally-ended-up-locked...

          • OrigamiPastrami 1 year ago
            https://old.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/1chqvq7/til_...

            This was on the front page of reddit today.

            • HenryBemis 1 year ago
              That is an interesting discussion. I'd go for a small door (opaque)/large window (transparent) that one can from the inside. A large triple glazed window ON the door (a smaller door ON a bigger door), a red/yellow light switch, a elevator-like ring/bell, a walkie-talkie permanently installed inside, a staff-count every 30mins. And then I am thinking that after 2-3 weeks all the people-dependent solutions would be abandoned...
              • wil421 1 year ago
                No one is going to buy a fridge that expensive.
            • fastball 1 year ago
              Yes, I would assume he blocked the door from the outside, otherwise no need to call the police.
            • kjs3 1 year ago
              No he didn't. He squatted in an abandoned store, went about town, joined a church, and had a (seemingly) pretty serious relationship. Headline makes it sound like he's Ceiling Cat, but with more stealth ninja.
              • SOLAR_FIELDS 1 year ago
                From the article:

                > Over the course of seven months, the Roofman hit over 40 restaurants, mostly McDonald’s franchises, for a total score of $100,000. Armed with a gun and power tools, he drilled through the roof. Then, he would drop down from the ceiling, sometimes as far as 14 feet, and begin the holdup.

                I would probably never use the term “ceiling cat” unprompted, but if there was ever a person to which the term could be applied, it’s this guy. Not in the spying sense you’re implying, but clearly acclimated to ceilings

                • kjs3 1 year ago
                  Clearly my double meaning was missed.
              • underseacables 1 year ago
                By the headline, I was surprised Circuit City was still business, but then saw that this actually occurred in 2004.
                • irjustin 1 year ago
                  It was already abandoned by that point too.
                • amelius 1 year ago
                  > Manchester was sentenced to a staggering 45 years in prison for robbing the two McDonald’s, primarily due to kidnapping charges for each employee.

                  If judges interpret the law so strictly, why don't we replace them by computers?

                  • dsr_ 1 year ago
                    Kidnapping is defined for Federal purposes in https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1201

                    "Whoever unlawfully seizes, confines, inveigles, decoys, kidnaps, abducts, or carries away and holds for ransom or reward or otherwise any person..."

                    Locking people in a walk-in is pretty clearly "confines".

                    For North Carolina's purpose: https://www.ncleg.net/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/BySec...

                    "Any person who shall unlawfully confine, restrain, or remove from one place to another, any other person 16 years of age or over without the consent of such person, ... shall be guilty of kidnapping if such confinement, restraint or removal is for the purpose of:

                    (1) Holding such other person for a ransom or as a hostage or using such other person as a shield; or

                    (2) Facilitating the commission of any felony or facilitating flight of any person following the commission of a felony; or"

                    So, confinement which facilitates the commision of a felony and fleeing thereafter.

                    Second: because we don't have human-equivalent AI, and if we did, why would you think that they would do better?

                    • tacocataco 1 year ago
                      If only the police had to follow the laws they enforce.
                      • amelius 1 year ago
                        I don't think it is necessary to reiterate the law here. And you missed the important part, where the sum-operator is invoked for the sentences corresponding to every individual offense.
                        • lupusreal 1 year ago
                          He's a repeat offender numerous times over, and later became an arsonist as well. Clearly the judge read the situation correctly.

                          Any why shouldn't each offense be punished? Each victim deserves justice, not just the first few.

                          • Kerb_ 1 year ago
                            ... you don't think kidnapping multiple people should let you get charged with multiple kidnappings? Or are you hoping for a kidnap 4 get the 5th charge waived type of deal?

                            It's not like they're charging them with resisting arrest for every cop he ran from or something.

                        • sokoloff 1 year ago
                          It seems to me that the judge acted appropriately here. The employees were subjected to all necessary elements of the kidnapping statute.
                          • 1 year ago
                            • spacecadet 1 year ago
                              You miss the point. We use intelligent humans because they are selected through a process of biased manipulation and uphold the powers of those whom selected it. A democratically controlled computer system that black and white follows the rules- would likely make this approach to control, less wieldy.
                            • 1 year ago
                              • 1 year ago
                                • antonvs 1 year ago
                                  > ... “The guy that every girl would want.”

                                  > They were soon dating, sharing dinners at Red Lobster

                                  I'm not entirely convinced that dinners at Red Lobster are what "every girl wants".

                                  • ravenstine 1 year ago
                                    I'm imagining the bell-curve meme with the guy on the left saying "take her to red lobster", thr guy in the middle saying "if you respect her, put on a tie, give her flowers, and take her to Chez Pierre", and the guy on the right saying "take her to red lobster".
                                  • lupusreal 1 year ago
                                    ITT: people who make a million dollars in a few years or less sneer at working class people enjoying what they can afford to enjoy.
                                  • lenerdenator 1 year ago
                                    Two words:

                                    Bottomless.

                                    Shrimp.

                                  • cobertos 1 year ago
                                    I mean, I wouldn't mind being taken out to Red Lobster.

                                    I've come to find too, partners who prefer whatever instead of having very specific expectations for time spent together are more comfortable to be around.

                                    • defrost 1 year ago
                                      Many of the girls|women in my part of the world would rather go freediving for crayfish and eat them on the beach than hang out in a chain resturant.

                                      https://youtu.be/yk6wa0YcUN0?t=60

                                      • 082349872349872 1 year ago
                                        Where I grew up, crayfish are freshwater mudbugs; those would be rock lobsters: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4QSYx4wVQg .

                                        Also where I grew up, we had a "baseball analogy" for dating, in which running the bases proceeds more or less as follows:

                                        1st base - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_kTor63Ihw

                                        2nd base - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHOo_b6Gn4c

                                        3rd base - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-rB0pHI9fU

                                        home run - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1niTEkP-6eo

                                        So I would say (referring to the diving video!) that fingers in wet crevices and feeling around would be 3rd while sticking spears in and suddenly releasing tension would defo be a home run.

                                        In countries that don't really have baseball as a sport that anyone plays, does the same pattern apply? Are there different analogies, perhaps involving "silly mid ons" or "brexit tackles"?

                                        • mnky9800n 1 year ago
                                          Aren't you special
                                          • 082349872349872 1 year ago
                                            Reflecting upon this a bit more, perhaps something that helps in our parts of the world is that restaurants are not segmented by price point. For instance, at lunch time everyone goes to the restaurants close by, but apprentices and street workers take the meal of the day, while the office workers order from the menu.

                                            So chain restaurants are really something that typically occur only in the same sorts of areas as big box stores, aiming at a similar demographic.

                                            • greenish_shores 1 year ago
                                              Haha, definitely. People come in different varieties. Even better you've linked to some evidence confirming that ;)
                                              • 1 year ago
                                              • pinkmuffinere 1 year ago
                                                I don’t know how to interpret this chain — is red lobster not fancy enough? For some reason I thought it was relatively fancy? Certainly not Michelin rated, but still
                                                • vidarh 1 year ago
                                                  Without ever having been to one, I'll note that as a European I know Red Lobster only from TV as a stereotypical place used as a joke about the type of places people presented as less sophisticated might consider fancy. It's used that way in Big Bang Theory, for example, though presumably because it is well known enough as at least a place that some people will consider fancy.
                                                  • dabbledash 1 year ago
                                                    It's popular with middle class suburban families. So, snobs (who don't realize that's what they are) like to sneer at it to demonstrate their sophistication.
                                                    • rob74 1 year ago
                                                      General question: can any chain restaurant be considered "fancy"? In Europe I would say certainly not, not sure about the US though...
                                                      • bigstrat2003 1 year ago
                                                        I wouldn't call Red Lobster fancy, but I also think it's a perfectly fine restaurant. Certainly decent date material.
                                                        • michaelmrose 1 year ago
                                                          Its expensive enough but fairly generic there are probably better choices for the same money everywhere its like giving a gift card for a gift its good but it lacks thought and imagination.
                                                          • ghaff 1 year ago
                                                            It’s (one of many) pretty yuk chain. In my 20s I probably wouldn’t have minded. Later I’d be internally going “really?” unless it were some area that really didn’t have good alternatives.
                                                            • Sohcahtoa82 1 year ago
                                                              Red Lobster is at the same level as Olive Garden.

                                                              The poor think they're fancy. Middle class think they're casual.

                                                          • kelnos 1 year ago
                                                            Wow, that's a really disgustingly elitist take. Pretty much everything wrong with some types of well-off/wealthy people is summed up in your comment.

                                                            While I haven't been to a Red Lobster since I was a kid, that was always a treat back then, and it was one of the nicest places my parents could afford to take us on occasion.

                                                            • antonvs 1 year ago
                                                              > While I haven't been to a Red Lobster since I was a kid

                                                              Why not? Have you become “disgustingly elitist”?

                                                              The scenario I responded to didn’t involve family meals with children.

                                                              My original comment was referring to nothing other than the fact that the food at Red Lobsters is pretty terrible. It’s not about price - there are plenty of cheap restaurants that serve good food.

                                                              See https://slate.com/business/2013/12/red-lobster-s-bad-food-pr...