This man’s story is full of holes.
Whatever his motivation was for cutting his way into the crawl space above the ceiling at the Moreno Valley Mall, his plan didn’t include an exit strategy. Or at least a good one.
The man had to be rescued from the area where utility lines run on Tuesday afternoon, Aug. 13 when he couldn’t get out on his own.
Riverside County sheriff’s deputies were called to the mall just before 4 p.m. for what was reported as a suspicious person on the roof, said Sgt. Wenndy Brito-Gonzalez, a department spokeswoman. The caller later said the man was in an air conditioning duct.
But Cal Fire/Riverside County Fire Department Capt. John Clingingsmith Jr., who participated in the rescue, said in an interview Wednesday that the man appeared to have cut holes the size of a laptop computer into the ceiling and accessed the crawl space from below, not above.
Clingingsmith said mall officials cut another hole in the ceiling, and a firefighter climbed into the crawl space and guided the man by voice to the hole. A Riverside Fire Department truck crew placed a mat below the hole in case the man fell. But it was unnecessary as the man stepped onto a scissor lift and was lowered safely to the floor.
He was booked into jail on suspicion of trespassing, Brito-Gonzalez said, and being under the influence of illegal drugs.
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