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Woman stuck in online date's chimney
01:31 - Source: KTLA

Story highlights

California woman gets stuck inside the chimney of ex-online beau

Rescuers dismantled chimney brick by brick to extricate Genoveva Nunez-Figueroa

Homeowner: "I hope she gets help and I hope she stays offline"

CNN  — 

The perils of online dating are well-documented. But the mantle of absurdity in dating folklore might now belong to a Los Angeles-area man, and it’s for where his online flame turned up: behind his mantel.

Genoveva Nunez-Figueroa had to be rescued over the weekend after becoming stuck inside of the chimney at a home in Thousand Oaks, California.

According to the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office, neighbors called police shortly before dawn Sunday to report the sound of a woman crying in the area.

When they arrived, they found the source of those cries, and then “carefully dismantled” the chimney brick by brick in order to free the spurned and quite sooty 30-year-old.

Nunez-Figueroa, who was conscious and alert, was taken to a hospital for evaluation and then arrested by the Thousand Oaks Police Department, accused of illegal entry and providing false information.

According to the guy who lives inside, it wasn’t the first time Nunez-Figueroa – whom he’d met online and went on a few dates with – had been “over” to his house.

“She seemed totally cool until the first flag was her actually being on my roof two weeks ago,” the unnamed homeowner told CNN affiliate KTLA.

“I hope she gets help, and I hope she stays offline. But even if she doesn’t, people are going to know who she is now,” he said before looking directly into KTLA’s camera and adding, “you’re welcome.”

CNN’s Sonya Hamasaki contributed to this report