EL CAJON, Calif.鈥擮ne of two men charged with setting fire to a Chase聽bank in La Mesa鈥攆ollowing last year’s contentious protest outside the city’s聽police headquarters鈥攔eceived a term of probation on Nov. 30.
Ricky Bernard Cooper, 34, pleaded guilty last month to arson and聽burglary charges for the May 30, 2020, fire inside the Chase bank branch at聽4791 Spring St., as well as for looting stores at the La Mesa Springs Shopping聽Center.
Along with probation and credit for time already served in custody,聽San Diego Superior Court Judge Steven Stone ordered that Cooper stay 100 yards聽away from the site of the former bank, and three businesses at the La Mesa聽Springs Shopping Center鈥擲ally’s Beauty Supply, Play It Again Sports, and聽Vons.
Co-defendant Alexander King, 20, also faces charges that include聽arson and burglary and is due back in court in December.
At Cooper’s arraignment, Deputy District Attorney David Vallero聽alleged the defendant was one of several people who broke into businesses at聽the shopping center and took items on the night of May 30, 2020.
Cooper also admitted to burning papers inside the聽bank, though he claimed they “didn’t catch,” according to Vallero, who alleged that聽several people started fires inside the bank, which burned to the ground.
At Cooper’s sentencing hearing, Vallero said part of what聽helped police identify Cooper was a video he recorded of himself at the protest聽and later posted on Facebook.
Protests that took place in La Mesa on May 29 and 30, 2020, were sparked by the Memorial Day in-custody death of George Floyd in聽Minneapolis and the arrest of another Black man, Amaurie Johnson, in La Mesa a聽few days prior to the protest.
Johnson’s arrest by Officer Matthew Dages of the La Mesa Police聽Department was captured on video and proliferated over social media, prompting聽backlash against the police department and a federal lawsuit filed by Johnson聽against the city.
Dages has since been charged with a felony count of filing a聽false police report for allegedly lying about the basis of his contact with聽Johnson and is set to go to trial this week.
On May 30, 2020, a group of demonstrators marched on Interstate 8 in the afternoon, before moving to the La Mesa police station.
Though聽the protest began peacefully, confrontation broke out at nightfall, with some聽protesters throwing objects and officers firing beanbag rounds and tear gas to聽disperse the crowd.
Chase bank was set on fire, along with another bank and the聽Randall Lamb and Associates building on Palm Avenue.
Pezou : Man Gets Probation For Arson Fire in La Mesa Chase Bank