An Augusta burglar called 911 for help last week after getting stuck inside a downtown high-rise and defecating in his pants, authorities said.
Brandon Thorne, 22, of Aiken, was a stinky mess when deputies took the elevator to rescue him from the 15th floor of the building at 699 Broad St. It was just after midnight Wednesday.
Thorne had called 911 for help from a stolen cell phone, saying he was locked inside the building and unable to get out. Security officers directed them to the 15th floor in the offices of Motus, which uses the space for Vision Wireless, a wireless expense management company. The high rise – billed as the city’s most prominent downtown building – is also home to The Pinnacle Club on the 17th floor and the Human Resources teams for Augusta University and AU Health on the eighth and ninth floors.
After finding Thorne, officers noticed that he had feces on the back of his pants and left some on the furniture he had been sitting on. They found a shattered glass door, which may have been his entry point.
The suspect claimed he had gone into the building for safety from two individuals who were trying to kidnap him. While inside, he opened brand new cell phones sitting on office desks and discharged a fire extinguisher, authorities said.
Once he got downstairs, Thorne confessed that no one was trying to kidnap him, but he could not offer an explanation as to why he was inside. He was charged with criminal attempted burglary, a felony. He was booked into the Charles B. Webster Detention Center, where he was given an clean pair of orange pants. He remained in jail on Sunday night, unable to make a $5,700 bond.
Thorne is the same suspect charged in Aiken in November 2022 with urinating in public, which led to a $257 fine.
