- Nathaniel Jose Perez, 19, reportedly tried to break into a
South Carolina prison . Police apprehended and arrested him in the middle of his attempt, when he got caught in razor wire and set off an alarm.- Perez was carrying four backpacks' worth of
contraband items intended for delivery to incarcerated individuals.
A man was arrested Wednesday for attempting to break into a South Carolina prison, First Coast News reported.
The man, 19-year-old Nathaniel Jose Perez, tried to enter the Tyger River Correctional Institution in Enoree, South Carolina. His goal was to transport contraband items to incarcerated people held in the facility, police said, according to First Coast News.
Perez reportedly triggered an alarm that alerted police to his presence, officials said.
"We got an alert at one of our perimeter fences," said South Carolina Department of Corrections Director Bryan Stirling. "There's another fence behind that, and there was a person that was caught in the fence line in the razor wire with a lot of contraband on them."
When officers responded to the alarm, they discovered Perez had been carrying four backpacks filled with contraband items like cell phones, tobacco, and alcohol, according to First Coast News.
He had been dispatched to the hospital and then transferred over to South Carolina Department of Corrections custody.
"I've not seen anybody trying to break in before," Stirling said. "But it can happen where they'll cut the fence really quickly, drop the contraband and go."
"Obviously his plans did not go as he thought they would when he got caught up in the razor wire," he added.
First News reported that Perez admitted to police that he intended to trade the contraband items for money. Perez faces multiple charges, including trespassing, marijuana possession with intent to distribute, and attempting to supply contraband to incarcerated individuals, the report said.
According to First Coast News, the police are aware of the intended recipients of the contraband materials. Those individuals will face disciplinary charges, the outlet said.
"We've moved them from that prison. Being at Tyger River, for an inmate is a privilege. It's not as restrictive as some of our institutions," Stirling said. "You can get jobs there and things of that nature, so you can plan your exit from SCDC. But he will be in a much more restrictive environment at a higher level prison now."
The South Carolina Department of Corrections did not immediately return Insider's request for comment.