‘He didn’t look like Santa Claus.’ Accused burglar rescued from chimney, police say

When California firefighters pulled 24-year-old Michael Arciniega from a homeowner’s chimney Saturday, KTLA reported, he was covered in soot but no one was very surprised to find he was not, after all, a jolly fat man.

“He didn’t look like Santa Claus,” one neighbor told KCBS. Then Arciniega tried to tell police he’d fallen down the chimney searching for a lost drone, according to the station.

“Really,” neighbor Aubrey Trask, who had called 911 from poolside after hearing his screams, told the station. “It was quite obvious that wasn’t the situation at all.”

Police in Claremont, on the eastern end of Los Angeles, arrested Arciniega on suspicion of burglary, reported KTLA. He was hospitalized for exhaustion and dehydration.

Nobody was home at the time, but neighbors heard Arciniega screaming for help inside the chimney about 10 a.m. Saturday, said Lt. Eric Huizar, according to The Inland Valley Daily Bulletin.

“It sounds like he was in the chimney since midnight,” Huizar said, according to the publication. After initial considering demolishing the chimney, firefighters pulled Arciniega out using a harness on a hook-and-ladder truck, Huizar said.

The homeowner suffered no property loss, reported KABC. Arciniega is being held in lieu of $50,000 bail.

The West Covina resident will be arraigned Tuesday, reported the station.

This story was originally published September 30, 2018 at 10:14 AM with the headline "‘He didn’t look like Santa Claus.’ Accused burglar rescued from chimney, police say."