Receiving a crank call supposedly based on a video game, a Motel 6 guest trashes a room in diligent efforts to free a "midget" trapped next door at a South Carolina location. Apparently the caller believed the need to free “Santa Claus” might have been too outlandish -- instead settling on the idea of a trapped midget in need of rescue.
Spartanburg, South Carolina, County sheriff's deputies say police were called to a Motel 6 location after a guest punched through his room to the one next door using a wrench as a tool. A Motel 6 employee discovered that a “guest” had damaged the room’s television, mirrors and adjoining wall between two rooms. The 73-year-old motel guest, Joseph Jones, received a call to his room before midnight – the caller, he says, claiming to be acting manager of the Motel 6 location. The spark that ignited destruction seems based on the idea that a previous motel guest had installed sophisticated cameras throughout the motel room, according to the caller.
Jones was told by the crank caller not to bother looking for the sophisticated cameras -- because the caller would tell Jones how to get rid of them. The motel guest says the caller first inquired whether the TV was “on” – with the affirmative, Jones was instructed to turn the television off and unplug it. He followed the ‘instructions’, serving as an opening for an evening of ‘fun’: the Motel 6 guest was told to remove the back toilet cover and use it to smash the TV. Apparently not a flat screen version, the TV survived the assault without shattering or breaking -- at which point the motel's guest was told to throw the television set outside of the motel.
Concern for privacy was obviously not top on the list: the Motel 6 guest offered up his own cell phone telephone number during the melee – so that he didn’t need to keep returning to the room while following the caller’s instructions. Upon being informed that cameras were installed behind the motel room’s mirrors – and that those mirrors needed to be smashed -- Jones apparently had a wrench on hand, which he used to smash the glass.
Jones was then told by the crank caller that a "midget" – just 4 feet 3 inches tall in height -- was barricaded, locked in the room next door at the Motel 6, and that police should be involved to help release the midget. If thoughts of police hadn’t crossed Jones’ mind prior, contacting law enforcement apparently still didn’t cross his mind – even with instructions to do so. With the goal to free the midget, Jones took his wrench, to begin the task of breaking the wallboard behind the motel door.
The Motel 6 guest’s “breakthrough” using the wrench as a tool was a resounding success – but the noise was not, then alerting motel staff to a major problem.
Wrenches seem to be popular these days. About a month ago, an attempted gas station robbery was thwarted -- a wrench used as a weapon to rob the gas station. Only weeks ago, a man was charged with assaulting the bride and wedding party at her reception—again, using a wrench.
Police were on scene at the Motel 6, hearing Jones’s story, when the caller called the cell phone number yet again – this time, a deputy taking the call. Believing he was speaking to Jones, the caller claimed he’d survived gunshots and was coming back to the Motel 6 but needed to verify that all cameras had been destroyed. Suddenly realizing he was not speaking to Jones, the caller told police, "I have the wrong number," cutting the call that originated from a blocked number or pre-paid cell.
The only clue: the caller made reference to a video game before disconnecting.
The Motel 6 employee says she’d recently received information, directly from its corporate office, about similar situations at other motels and hotels. While police were in the lobby of the Spartanburg, South Carolina, location, several Motel 6 guests called from rooms – to report similar phone calls as those received by room 107.
Maybe the motel chain figured that anyone willing to go to such lengths -- to free a midget -- had enough on his plate already: surprisingly, no legal charges are being filed against its previous guest for damages. The Motel 6 request, for the guest to “check out” of his on-site stay immediately, was honored.