Wanna-Be Burglar Burrows into Home, Gets Naked, Finds Trouble

A prospective burglar ended up with a head injury, dog bites and probably a lungful of drywall dust after his plan to burrow into a condo through a carport wall ended in his capture.

A call from an apartment in the 23100 block of Saguaro, off El Toro Road, alerted police that a strange man had been spotted sitting in a vehicle that was not his own in an attached garage.

Minutes later, a deputy arrived and saw an empty garage with a large hole dug in the drywall at the rear of the structure.

The man, later identified as 26-year-old Brian Sciarrotta, had apparently "burrowed through the drywall into the residence," according to sheriff's Sgt. Angel Andrade.

Deputies brought in a police dog named Victor to sniff out the man and set up a perimeter in the area.

When deputies entered the two-story condo, drywall and insulation was spotted hanging from an attic space in the ceiling where it appeared the suspect had initially entered, then fell through.

After deputies called out for the suspect to surrender, the police dog found him hiding in one of the residence's rooms—sans most of his clothes. In the process, the partially-naked man was bitten several times in his upper and lower body, according to deputies.

Although the bites "didn't appear to be severe," Sciarrotta was sent to Mission Hospital for treatment for the wounds, as well as for a possible head injury from when he fell through the ceiling.

Later, Sciarrotta claimed the apartment resident knew him, and had allowed him sleep there the previous evening. She denied knowing the man, who was ultimately charged with residential burglary, though he had not managed to steal anything while in the residence.

Sciarrotta was jailed on $50,000 bail. He is scheduled to appear in court Friday.