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Burglar Dies After Being Tied To Tree With Masking Tape By Homeowner

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Eric Lieberman Managing Editor
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A burglar died last week after the targeted homeowner tied the intruder to a tree and completely engulfed his body in duct tape and wires.

Sixty-eight-year-old Nathanial Johnson of Leroy, Alabama was a victim of burglaries on so many occasions that he finally decided to confront one himself. On the night of the most recent burglary incident, Johnson turned off the lights to his mobile home and drove his vehicle to a neighbor’s place to make his domicile look vacant, according to Fox News. Johnson also placed a mirror next to a window so that he could see the burglar approach.

The 31-year-old suspect Cleveland Gully arrived at Johnson’s home later that night. Johnson told sheriff’s deputies that he heard a knock on his front door and that when he did not answer, the person went around to the backdoor and successfully broke the lock, reports AL.com.

Johnson confronted the intruder, which caused the suspect to fall to the ground and subsequently be subdued by the homeowner. Johnson tied the burglar’s hands, placed duct tape over his mouth, and then strapped him to a tree using everyday tools like rope from a nearby clothesline, electrical wire, and masking tape.

“He began to tie him to the tree still in the standing-up position,” Washington County Sheriff Richard Stringer told Fox News. Johnson used “multiple layers of masking tape that he had wrapped around his mouth and all the way around his head” and then traveled to the neighbor’s house to call the police.

Stringer contends that Gully “was still alive at that point, and there was no indication that he was dying.” But deputies arrived 10 minutes later and Gully was pronounced dead.

Gully, who was found unarmed, had some lacerations on his body from the wire that was wrapped around him.

For the time being, Johnson is not facing criminal charges. Stringer and the relevant authorities are waiting for the results of the autopsy as well as further investigations.

Stringer told Fox News that he doesn’t think Johnson intended to kill Gully and that he most likely “wanted to capture him and have him arrested.” But Stringer said that his department “will probably present it to the grand jury to see what they say about it.”
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Tags : alabama
Eric Lieberman