Bank Vent Intruder Faces Arraignment

The hapless intruder who spent 48 hours stuck in a ventilation shaft in the Sumitomo Bank is now spending 48 hours in the County Jail downtown awaiting arraignment on burglary charges, police said Monday.

Richard Batiste, 35, found Sunday afternoon by a cleaning crew, is being held on suspicion of burglary and possession of burglar’s tools and faces arraignment today or Wednesday, authorities said.

Police spokesman Bill Robinson described Batiste as a transient, “apparently passing through.” Police say he had dropped into the bank through a vent shaft in the roof when his rope broke. He became lodged half in and half out of a duct 20 feet above the main floor of the 4th Avenue bank.

Robinson said the incident was the second in several months in which a person got stuck in the midst of an apparent burglary attempt. He said the first occurred several months ago in Hillcrest when a woman fell through the roof of the Mandolin Wind restaurant and injured her legs.

She, too, was discovered by a cleaning crew, Robinson said.