Woman Arrested After Allegedly Locking Her Boyfriend Inside Storage Unit Without Food or Water for Days: Police

A woman in North Carolina has been accused of locking her boyfriend in a storage unit for multiple days without food or water, police have said.

On Wednesday, Feb. 26, Robin Deaton, 52, was arrested and is facing attempted murder and kidnapping charges, Monroe Police Department lieutenant and public information officer Morgan Malone confirmed to PEOPLE.

“Robin Deaton was arrested last night in Charlotte, North Carolina and served with those warrants,” Malone said in an email on Thursday, Feb. 27.

Deaton’s boyfriend had been locked in the Cooper Storage facility in Monroe since Thursday, Feb. 20, police added. Malone also confirmed the victim had no food or water while locked in the facility.

An incident report obtained by PEOPLE confirmed that police officers “responded to 1950 Old Charlotte Hwy in reference to suspicious circumstances” on Monday, Feb. 24, at approximately 2:13 p.m. local time. The report, which identified the victim and suspect, had listed the crime as false imprisonment.

Malone told PEOPLE that the victim said the suspect had allegedly convinced him to crawl to the back of the storage unit to grab something for her, before she slammed it shut and said, “This is what you get.”

In a 911 call obtained by PEOPLE, which was released by Union County Emergency Services, the man said, “I’ve been locked in a storage unit for about a week now, and I’ve just now found my phone.”

“My girlfriend locked me in here. She doubled locked my lock, and I don’t know how she put me in here but she put me in here,” he alleged.

The man claimed he was in unit 43, saying when questioned whether he needed emergency services, “I just need [to get] out of here.”

“I just can’t breathe. I haven’t had nothing to drink or anything,” he said.

Malone said of the case, per CBS-affiliated local station WBTV, “This is bizarre. In 15 years, I’ve not seen anybody who has been locked in a storage unit.”

“The storage unit was described to me as being a hoarder’s paradise,” Malone added, according to the outlet. “As soon as the officers opened up the door, things started falling out. The further they opened it, more stuff fell out.” 

Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up for PEOPLE’s free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.          

Police added that the man had been in complete darkness, hence why he struggled to find his phone, according to the outlet.

Commenting on the fact the situation could have turned fatal, Malone told the station, “[The man] had no food, no water. If we had been in the heat of the summer, or the super cold of the winter, this would be a whole different story. I do think this is an important reminder that men can also be victims of domestic abuse.”

If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.