(La Porte, IN) - A La Porte man was still being held without bond Monday after law enforcement officers, with warrants for his arrest, fished him out of a partially water filled hole in the basement floor where he was hiding.

 

Austin Eldred, 23, made his initial appearance Friday in La Porte Circuit Court on a charge of resisting law enforcement and other counts for previous crimes.

 

According to court documents, LaPorte Police Officers went to a home in the 400 block of G Street the night of September 30th to arrest Eldred on felony warrants after receiving information about his possible whereabouts.  Police said officers on the main level of the home threatened to release a K9 if he didn’t come out.

 

Officers made their way to the basement to try and find Eldred when he began yelling from the bottom of a sump pump well that he was “stuck and unable to crawl out,” police said.  Police said the well was six to seven feet deep.

 

According to police, blocks made of foam were placed into the well for Eldred to use as stairs.  Officers helped lift him out of the well about 15 minutes later once he made his way close enough to the floor’s surface.

 

According to police, the dirty and wet Eldred was escorted outside in handcuffs where he broke loose from officers.  He was running down the street and yelling that he needed to take a shower.  Eldred was soon grabbed and placed on the ground where additional restraints were secured around his ankles, police said.

 

In June, Eldred was given a 540 day jail sentence for possession of a narcotic drug, according to court records. 

 

He was allowed to serve his time with La Porte County Community Corrections with his  whereabouts on the outside monitored by a satellite tracking device around his ankle.

 

According to court documents, the arrest warrants involved petitions to revoke his placement in the program on allegations he twice failed to return to lawful detention within the program’s required time period.

 

As a result, Eldred is also facing a level 5 felony charge of escape, which could bring him another one to six years of incarceration.