See Paul Felyk's Rescue From Marshall's Store Wall After Being Trapped for Three Days

Anyone who's been out and about in the metro area over the past day or two knows how cold it's been. So was reported transient Paul Felyk just trying to get out of the conditions when he burrowed his way into the wall of a Marshall's store in Longmont? Or...

By Michael Roberts

November 12, 2014

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Anyone who's been out and about in the metro area over the past day or two knows how cold it's been. So was reported transient Paul Felyk just trying to get out of the conditions when he burrowed his way into the wall of a Marshall's store in Longmont? Or did he have other goals? We don't know those answers yet. But what's certain is that he wound up trapped for up to three days, and it took an emergency crew to cut him out. See the video of his rescue and more below.

There are a number of Felyk portraits on Facebook, including this one....

...and this one: We're guessing he likes the two shots above more than this one.... ...which was posted by Crime Stoppers of Gilpin & Clear Creek Counties this past June. The item notes that Felyk was "wanted for failure to appear surrounding the original charges [of] trespass of a dwelling and theft ($500-$1,000)" prior to his capture by members of the Westminster Police Department.

This previous run-in with Johnny Law appears to have come into play yesterday, in a very strange way.

According to the Longmont Times-Call, employees at the 205 Ken Pratt Boulevard Marshall's branch thought they heard a disembodied voice calling out on Monday, but couldn't locate it. By Tuesday, though, they figured out it was coming from a hole in a back wall.

Emergency responders showed up shortly thereafter and spent about half an hour, by the Times-Call's calculations, hacking through an exterior wall of the store in order to bust Felyk out. Afterward, his rescuers discovered that he'd tried to push notes under the wall to let staffers know of his distress -- including one written on a card from his probation officer. The November 8 date on a message implies he'd been there since Saturday.

At this writing, Felyk, who was hospitalized with unspecified leg injuries, has yet to be charged with a crime as a result of his strange staycation. But at least he's currently somewhere warm. Here's the aforementioned Times-Call video.

Send your story tips to the author, Michael Roberts.

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Michael Roberts began his career with Westword in 1990 as music editor. In 1999, he took on a new role, full-time media reporter, as author of a column called The Message. In 2008, he became the lead writer for Westword's news blog, The Latest Word, a position he held until January 2023. Michael continues to freelance for Westword, covering everything from business to sports and the media; he also contributes to Jazziz, a national music magazine. He holds a bachelor's degree from what is now Colorado Mesa University and master's degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles, and Northwestern University.

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