Man arrested after break-in at raceway

MAGNA — A man who was hanging around with his pants down, literally, was arrested by Salt Lake County sheriff's deputies early Monday.

The sheriff's office received a call of a motion alarm going off at Intermountain RC Raceway, 8481 W. 2700 South, about 1:30 a.m. When deputies arrived they didn't see any signs of forced entry, said sheriff's deputy Shane Manwaring. They waited for the owner to show up to let them inside the building.

The officers were exposed to a little more than they were expecting inside the business.

Inside the women's restroom, they found the pantless legs of a man hanging from the vent in the ceiling, Manwaring said. Investigators believe the man took off his coat and pants and tried to climb down the vent from the roof but got stuck.

"We don't know how long he was there ... at least 10 minutes," Manwaring said.

The man was not calling for help when deputies found him.

The Unified Fire Authority was called to extricate the man. Firefighters said once they brought a ladder to the man, they were able to get him down rather easily.

Once he was out, the man said he had been smoking on the roof and fell though a faulty vent cover, Manwaring said. Deputies didn't believe the story, however, and booked the man into the Salt Lake County Jail for investigation of burglary, a third-degree felony.

— Pat Reavy