On Saturday, Feb. 18, at 8:46 a.m. officers were called to the rear alley of 1500 Fifth Street after receiving a report of a man who had returned to his former apartment in an attempt to locate some of his property that he believed was in the trash at the location.
In doing so the man had allegedly broken a metal gate that enclosed the trash containers, and had also scratched a nearby-parked vehicle as he had pushed the containers around.
The officers spoke with the man and he admitted to them that he had been responsible for the damage to the gate and the car.
The officers then spoke with the apartment manager, who also owned the vehicle mentioned, and afterwards they arrested the “seeker of property that may have been in the trash,” and charged him with vandalism.
The bail for this, now homeless, 51-year-old was set at $20,000.
Editor’s Note: These reports are part of a regular police coverage series entitled “Alert Police Blotter” (APB), which injects some minor editorial into certain police activities in Santa Monica. Not all of the Mirror’s coverage of incidents involving police are portrayed in this manner. More serious crimes and police-related activities are regularly reported without editorial in the pages of the Santa Monica Mirror and its website, smmirror.com.
