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Police Use Oil to Free Suspect From Vent

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[November 16, 2007]  THORNTOWN, Ind. (AP) -- Authorities used vegetable oil off a grocery shelf as a lubricant to free a burglary suspect who was trapped for at least an hour inside the store's vent shaft.

Adam F. Cooper, 19, was being held in Boone County Jail on $10,000 bond Thursday on charges of burglary, criminal mischief and false informing.

Authorities said Cooper was found Tuesday night in the shaft between the ceiling and the roof of the Thorntown IGA after someone heard him screaming for help. Emergency workers cut Cooper's sweat shirt away, poured vegetable oil down the shaft and handed him a rope, which four men on the roof used to pull him out, Thorntown Deputy Marshal Chad Clendening said.

"He's really lucky someone heard him yelling," Clendening said. "Otherwise, we probably would have been removing a corpse the next morning."

Earlier that day, Cooper had been on a cleaning team that cleaned the store's vent, authorities said. He allegedly told police he was able to move through the vent while he was working, so he figured he could use it to rob the store later.

Trial was set for April 21.

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Information from: The Lebanon Reporter, http://www.reporter.net/

[Associated Press]

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