A man has been jailed for repeatedly clogging up the women’s toilets at his workplace.

Patrick D Beeman was given a 150 day sentence and three years of probation after he was found guilty of five counts of criminal damage.

The 26-year-old from Wisconsin was caught after police discovered an overflowing toilet in the women’s bathroom at a community centre had been blocked by a plastic bottle, according to a criminal complaint.

Officers investigating the March incident then discovered the women’s toilets at the Deland Community Centre in the city of Sheboygan had been obstructed multiple times since April 2017.

The serial clogger told police “he could not explain this behaviour”, but said he “would get very strong urges to do this”, according to documents filed at Sheboygan County Circuit Court.

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Beeman apologised in a statement he read during his sentencing hearing earlier this week. “I need to make things right and pray forgiveness every day,” he said.

He told police he had urges to search through the garbage looking for bottles to block the toilets with, according the Sheboygan Press.

Investigators looked at 10 similar clogging incidents after the initial discovery, the city officials estimating that each one caused around $200 (£160) in damage.

Joe Kerlin, the city’s parks and forestry superintendent, had previously complained that the bottles had been shoved down into the pipes so firmly that repairmen had to take the toilets apart to remove the bottles.

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“A lot of times we can just fish ‘em out,” he explained.

Beeman said he stopped once he realised there was an investigation under way into the damage.

The 26-year-old will have to pay more than $5,500 (£4,400) in charges and carry out 100 hours of community service as part of the probation ordered by Judge Kent Hoffmann.