Police Arrest Accused Stalker in 4-Acre Corn Maze

A man accused of stalking his ex-girlfriend was apprehended on Saturday after hiding in a corn maze from police.

Ryan Watt was arrested at the popular Petaluma Pumpkin Patch, located an hour north of San Francisco, Fox News reports. On Friday night, police received a call that he'd broken the restraining order placed against him by his ex: He had called and texted his former girlfriend, asking if she would drop pending cases against him. Officers looked for Watt at a few homeless camps, but when they found him and tried to arrest him, he escaped.

Police again conducted foot patrol at the same homeless camps the next morning before finding Watt. He evaded arrest by running across the freeway and into the corn maze. Aided by a helicopter, officers spent almost two hours chasing Watt through the four-acre maze, before discovering him hiding in a chicken coop, per New York Daily News.

“I’ve been to that maze myself, off duty with kids,” Lt. Ed Crosby of the Petaluma Police Department told the Mercury News. “It’s a great place to hide. It’s very narrow. It takes a long time to get through it.”

Watt was arrested and charged with suspicion of violating a restraining order, attempting to dissuade a crime victim, obstructing officers, and for an earlier warrant.

Authorities said Watt’s been arrested multiple times this month for “allegedly showing up at his ex-girlfriend’s home uninvited, attending her son's school athletic practices uninvited, hacking her social media accounts, and texting her to let her know he was monitoring her whereabouts,” according to Fox. He's also been accused of stalking his ex online, in person, and through a GPS tracking device that he’d covertly hid in her car.

His bail has been set at $250,000.