California authorities arrested a naked man after he was reportedly found living under an elderly woman’s home where he is believed to have been for months.
Los Angeles Police Department officials found Issac Betancourt, 27, in a crawl space under the home in El Sereno, a Los Angeles neighborhood, on Thursday. Cops used police dogs and rubber bullets to try to get the man to come out without success.
“He was naked and he wouldn’t come out of there,” a KCAL anchor said, quoting police.
Officials later deployed tear gas and the man removed himself from the home around 4 a.m. on Friday morning. Betancourt has been charged with misdemeanor trespassing. It’s not clear how long he had been living under the home but officers found blankets and food in the man’s hiding spot.
Ricardo Silva, the son-in-law of the woman living in the home, who is thought to be in her 90s, said she kept hearing strange noises late at night but assumed it was just animals.
“The noises were kind of like knocking. It was kind of like, as my wife was walking, they were kind of knocking back from under the house so she says, ‘You know something’s wrong,’ ” Silva said, according to NBC News, adding the family suspects the man may have been living under the home for six months.
Betancourt was arrested on November 8, released the following day and is scheduled to appear before a judge on December 6.
“It’s a bizarre thing, but it’s not probably uncommon, you know. In this day and age, people are looking for shelter,” Silva said, according to People.
“He refused to leave. He wasn’t scared of the dogs, and the first two attempts at gas didn’t fish him out.”
