A very lucky man will face charges in California’s Wine Country after somehow getting stuck inside vineyard equipment for two days and surviving the ordeal.
It’s still not clear why the man, who wasn’t identified, found his way inside the shaft of a vineyard fan in the 2800 block of Piner Rd. in Santa Rosa, but a reported suspicious vehicle led to his timely rescue.
"When interviewed, the man indicated he liked to take pictures of the engines of old farm equipment," a Facebook post from the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office said. "After a thorough investigation which revealed the farm equipment wasn’t antique and the man had far more methamphetamine than camera equipment, the motivation to climb into the fan shaft remains a total mystery."
It wasn’t known when exactly the man crawled inside the fan.
"Hide and seek is a two-player game, at a minimum," the post said.
The man’s vehicle was reported early Tuesday, which prompted a deputy to respond to the scene. "The vehicle was parked in a location that made no sense," officials explained on Tuesday. "The deputy saw a hat resting on a nearby piece of farm equipment and went over to investigate. The deputy found way more than the hat."
Authorities opted not to arrest the man, but instead transported him for medical treatment "after his unintended multi-day stay in the fan shaft."
Officials said they’ll be recommending charges of trespassing and drug possession, and violations of both the man’s probation case and a pending case for which he’s currently out of custody on pre-trial release.
He’s expected to make a full recovery.
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