DAYTONA BEACH — A man who claimed he was locked in a closet for two days after being chased by “unknown subjects” was actually holed up in a janitor’s room at Daytona State College with a 25-year-old woman, police said.
When John Arwood and Amber Campbell were found on Tuesday afternoon in room 169 at the school — a janitor’s closet in brown building 420 — officers also discovered a “Chore Boy” scouring pad commonly used to smoke crack cocaine, police said, but no drugs were found inside the small room.
The 31-year-old Arwood of Daytona Beach initially claimed he was being held against his will in a closet.
According to the reports and the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office, Arwood called his father in Osceola County on Tuesday and told him he was being held captive in a closet, Volusia sheriff’s spokesman Andrew Gant said. When the father called the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office to report his son was in trouble, Osceola sheriff’s deputies then called Arwood on his cellphone and were able to track his location by the phone’s signal, Gant said. They discovered Arwood was somewhere on the college campus; in addition Arwood told them he could see a white boat outside the room where he was being held, reports state.
Osceola officials notified Daytona Beach police, but also warned officers that Arwood has a history with law enforcement that includes armed burglary and theft of firearms, the reports show.
Familiar with the Daytona State College campus, Daytona Beach Officer Daniel Matero knew that the only boat at the college was the one near the brown building. Officers obtained a key to the building from a security guard and began searching for Arwood. They reached room 169 and positioned themselves tactically, based on Arwood’s criminal history and the “potential for an ambush,” the reports state.
Officers announced themselves and Arwood responded and offered a knock from inside the closet, the report states. Police opened the door and discovered their man was not alone. Campbell, who sports a dollar sign tattoo on her throat, as well as vampire bite tattoos, was with him, reports state. The 25-year-old is on probation for escape and resisting an officer with violence in 2013, police said.
The disheveled pair told officers they had been in the closet for two days because they were locked inside. Police said a green garden hose had been wrapped around the door handle to prevent anyone from opening the door from the outside. Arwood and Campbell could have opened the door from the inside whenever they wanted, police said.
Arwood, who has been arrested 10 times between 2005 and 2014 and has a handful of felony and misdemeanor convictions for drug and traffic violations, was charged with trespassing on school property. Campbell was charged with that as well, and violation of probation. They are both in custody at the Volusia County Branch Jail on $250 bail and no bail, respectively.