Would-be burglar arrested after getting stuck in chimney

Police have arrested two men on burglary charges after they found one of them stuck in the chimney of of a southwest Florida home they were attempting to rob.



Richard Tyler Brandon, 25, of Naples, faces two counts of burglary. Derek Alan Grenfell, 26, also of Naples, faces two counts of burglary accessory after the fact. Grenfell had approached deputies at a 7-Eleven to tell them his friend was stuck in a chimney.



Police found Brandon in the 18-foot chimney. He was shoeless, with one foot dangling into the fireplace of the unoccupied home. Firefighters were able to pull him back up the chimney with a harness attached to a ladder truck. It took about an hour-and-a-half to get him out.


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He didn't suffer any serious injuries, but the chimney did sustain some damage. "He probably didn't know much about chimneys because the damper prohibits anybody from getting in there," said Batallion Chief, Pete DiMaria with the City of Naples Fire Department.