Las Vegas Sphere climber faces scale of charges

James Schaeffer
·2 min read
5

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — It is unsafe and illegal but this isn’t the first time “Pro-Life Spiderman” has unlawfully scaled a Las Vegas attraction.

Las Vegas Metro police arrested Maison DesChamps, 24, for climbing the attraction Thursday.

<em>Maison DesChamps, 24, faces charges of destroying property of another and conspiracy to destroy private property. (LVMPD)</em>
Maison DesChamps, 24, faces charges of destroying property of another and conspiracy to destroy private property. (LVMPD)

Amid the COVID-19 mask mandates and Strip closures in August of 2021, DesChamps climbed more than 61 floors of the Aria Resort & Casino.

Person climbs to top of Las Vegas Sphere

“Yesterday, our officers faced another unique challenge,” Las Vegas Metro police Captain Dori Koren wrote in an August 2021 tweet with video of DesChamps appearing to climb the high rise. “This reckless act is extremely dangerous & very illegal.”

Four months later, the Hartland, Michigan, native was living in Las Vegas where he attended classes at University of Nevada, Las Vegas, according to a UNLV spokesperson.

However, it appears that when spring semester final exams were graded in May 2022 that he wasted no time to climb the 970-foot-tall Salesforce Tower in San Francisco, the 748-foot-tall New York Times Building in New York City and the 727-foot tall Renaissance Center in Detroit—all in the same month.

One month later, police rushed to close streets after spotting DesChamps ascending the 844-foot-tall Devon Tower in downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, completing his tour in 2022.

<em>Map of buildings and attractions Maison DesChamps scaled (KLAS)</em>
Map of buildings and attractions Maison DesChamps scaled (KLAS)

Scale of Charges

Pedestrians broke out their phones amid the cooler February air to capture DesChamps first target of 2023, inching up the abandoned 483-foot-tall Chase Tower in downtown Pheonix, Arizona.

Six months later, Chicago police and fire were dispatched to the 600-foot-tall Accenture Tower to a report of a man climbing without a rope and DesChamps was told to come down.

By August 2023, DesChamps faced misdemeanor charges related to seven different illicit acts of scaling structures, but he was not done.

DesChamps, now 24 years old, returned home.

Shortly after 10 a.m., workers looked up into the partly cloudy skies to see DesChamps first mark of 2024, the 366-foot-tall Las Vegas Sphere—a new low.

Police and fire crews responded in what appeared to be a full circle moment for DesChamps, standing just over a mile away was his first endeavor at the Aria.

Just like the seven times before, DesChamps was arrested after his stunt and faces two misdemeanor charges.

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