LONDON — A Bellefontaine man listed as a registered sex offender was arrested Monday after London police found him hiding in a cramped attic space inside an apartment in London, Ohio.
According to the London Police Department, officers executed a search warrant at an apartment on Daines Court after receiving information that Devin Austin Walborn, 30, was inside the residence.
Police said officers knocked on the door and announced their presence but received no response, despite hearing movement inside the apartment. Officers then forced entry and began searching the residence.
Walborn’s girlfriend, Jennifer Brooks, initially told officers she did not know where he was, according to published media reports. Investigators continued searching the apartment and eventually focused on the upstairs area.
Officers located an attic access panel inside a child’s bedroom and observed fresh drywall dust nearby, leading them to believe someone had recently entered the space.
Police said they used less-lethal pepper-ball rounds in an attempt to force the suspect out of the attic, but he did not come down. During a closer search, officers discovered Walborn wedged into a narrow space behind a wall stud inside the attic area.
Authorities had to break through part of the wall to reach him before taking him into custody, police said.
Walborn was arrested by London police and transported to the Tri-County Regional Jail in Mechanicsburg, where he is being held on charges of burglary, a fourth-degree felony, and resisting arrest, a second-degree misdemeanor, filed in Madison County Municipal Court.
Jail records indicate Walborn’s initial court appearance is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. March 10 in Madison County Municipal Court. He is also being held on a Logan County holder related to failure to register as a sex offender.
Brooks was also arrested for obstruction, according to media reports.
According to the Ohio Sex Offender Registry, Walborn is listed as a Tier I sex offender following a 2016 conviction for gross sexual imposition involving a female juvenile victim. Tier I offenders are subject to periodic registration requirements.
Registry records list a Bellefontaine address along State Route 540 as a recent residence. Walborn previously has been associated with an address along State Route 235 in Lakeview.
