Man accused of breaking into police department, sleeping in ceiling

By Catherine Holland

MESA, Ariz. (KPHO/KTVK) -- Mesa police officers and detectives arrived to work Wednesday to find a man, who had been released from the Mesa Holding Facility just hours earlier, sleeping in the ceiling of a third-floor office.

Jesus Ramon Carrillo-Leyva, 51, is facing charges of criminal trespassing and third-degree burglary, both of which are felonies, and a misdemeanor criminal damage charge.

It started at 7 a.m. when detectives, who work on the third floor, arrived at the Main Station building at 130 N. Robson to start their day.

"Detectives found their work stations rummaged through and items misplaced," according to court documents filed for Carrillo-Leyva. "Detectives began searching the office and found an office window had been broken from the outside, as glass pieces were on the office floor."

Detectives also discovered an office in which somebody had gone through the desk and removed items from the drawer.

About an hour later, officers arriving to start their shift spotted a hole that had been dug under the perimeter fence. They also found a backpack, a ball cap and a citation issued to Carrillo-Leyva.

The building was evacuated shortly after 10 p.m. so Mesa SWAT could search the building.

While in the second office that had been riffled, SWAT officers noticed a ceiling tile that looked like it was out of place.

"SWAT officers checked the drop ceiling and observed the defendant sleeping in the ceiling," according to the probable cause for arrest statement.

Police said Carrillo-Leyva admitted to using drugs, that he had been arrested earlier and that he dug under the fence and then broke into the building because "when he was released he felt someone was going to harm him" and "he felt he would be safer if he was inside the building."

It wasn't clear who or what he feared.

"[Carrillo-Leyva] then explained that he climbed over the wall and located the extension ladder," court documents explain. "The defendant stated he took the ladder and used it to climb each level of the building until [he] reached the third floor. The defendant stated, 'I was like Spiderman.'"

Police said Carrillo-Leyva told them he searched several desks while looking for a phone to call his son.

"The defendant stated he climbed into the ceiling because he heard police officers arriving for work," according to court documents.

Court documents show several arrests and convictions on drug charges, as well as trespassing and disorderly conduct and assault. Those documents also show the Carrillo-Leyva failed to showed up for court on at least two occasions.