A man who was found inside a manhole attempting to steal copper wire in an unincorporated neighborhood in West Los Angeles over the weekend was criminally charged on Tuesday, according to authorities.

A resident reportedly spied a man descending into a manhole on Saturday afternoon and knew something unusual was up. The suspect lost his cover when arriving deputies found him in the hole and took him into custody, NBC4 reported .

Elliaz Natividad, 25, was arrested in the View Park-Windsor Hills neighborhood, an unincorporated area patrolled by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. A department spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Natividad has been charged with one count of an attempt to commit grand theft of copper materials exceeding $950 and one

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