Monterey Police use wits and a chainsaw to extricate a wily felony suspect from a secret hole.

Leslie J. Flores, 58, of Monterey, has been on the run since Feb. 14, when he was supposed to appear in Monterey County Superior Court on multiple misdemeanor and felony warrants. When he didn’t show, the judge issued a no-bail arrest warrant, and the search was on.

Flores managed to escape Monterey Police on three separate occasions in April and June but he finally lost his independence on July 4, after literally holing himself up under his house, requiring chainsaws to extricate him.

Efforts to finally capture Flores began around 6:15pm, July 3, after officers confirmed he was at his home on Cielo Vista Drive, according to an MPD press release. After realizing the police were there, Flores ran out the back, where he was confronted by an officer. Flores climbed a tree at the back of the house and disappeared through an open window. MPD called on mutual aid, and over 30 officials responded from eight law enforcement agencies, as well as the Monterey Fire Department and Monterey County Behavioral Health.

Officers used loudspeakers to advise Flores he was under arrest and needed to come out. A crisis negotiations team attempted to contact him, to no avail. After several hours they breached the front door and used indoor drones to help clear the home, finding no Flores. A room-to-room search yielded nothing as well, including inside a hiding area under the house.

Then an officer noticed a fresh handprint on a wall of the hiding area. They discovered a tunnel, but it was blocked. It took a chainsaw to remove several floorboards of an adjacent room to find Flores in a six-foot hole. Flores was arrested at around 2:15am, July 4, and was taken to Monterey County Jail.

He was returned to court on July 8. His next hearing is scheduled for July 17.

Flores has other troubles. In February, Monterey officials filed for a receivership of apartments he owns on Larkin Street, after he reportedly refused to make repairs to dilapidated units condemned by the city.