In what sounds like the plot of a comedy sketch, a man in Washington broke into an escape room business—only to find himself unable to escape and forced to call 911.
The suspect, identified as Rye Daniel Wardlaw, allegedly broke into NW Escape Experience in Vancouver, Washington, early one Sunday morning in July 2018, hours before it was open to the public. According to owners Tamara and Rob Bertrand, Wardlaw gained access through an adjoining door from a vacant suite next door after pushing over a heavy set of lockers that were blocking the entrance.
Once inside, Wardlaw didn’t exactly make a clean getaway. Instead, he reportedly helped himself to a burrito and a beer, and even stole a few random items, including a prop beer used in one of the escape games, a TV remote, and a non-functioning cell phone.
But his early morning heist took a turn when he apparently forgot how he entered and couldn’t figure out how to leave. Panicking, he used the business’s phone to call 911—not once, but four times, according to reports. He even claimed there was a home invasion happening, and provided authorities with a fake address, but deputies quickly traced the call back to NW Escape Experience.
By the time law enforcement arrived, Wardlaw had eventually managed to exit through the back door—right into the waiting arms of police officers, who found him lurking in the strip mall nearby.
He was arrested and charged with second-degree burglary.
The owners say the break-in caused only minor damage and they were able to reopen just a few hours later. “The damage could have been a lot worse,” Rob Bertrand shared on Facebook. “We’re just thankful the burglar didn’t know how to escape from the escape room.”
Despite the chaos, the couple managed to find humor in the situation. “At that point all we could do was laugh,” Tamara told CBS. “Some people make it out, some don’t. From the state of mind that he was in, he definitely would not have escaped a real escape room either.”
The business has since installed an alarm system to avoid future break-ins—and hopefully future uninvited escape room challenges.
