A Campo man was ordered held in jail on $500,000 Dec. 8 on charges of arson and feloÂny vandalism in connection with a fire set in downtown La Mesa during a protest on May 30.
Daniel Louis Sandoval, 43, pleaded not guilty to the charges in El Cajon Superior Court.
Sandoval is accused of inÂtentionally torching the RanÂdall Lamb Associates buildÂing, which had been designatÂed a historic structure by the La Mesa Historical Society.
Two bank buildings were also set on fire and dozens of stores were looted during the protest which was related to the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died in MinÂneapolis, Minnesota after a white police officer held a knee on his neck for eight minutes.
The protest was also reÂlated to an incident in La Mesa of a Black man who was shoved by a white La Mesa Police officer onto a bench that was videotaped near a trolley station a few days earlier. No charges were filed against the man and the officer was fired.
Sandoval was arrested Dec. 1 by La Mesa police and sherÂiff’s deputies near his home in Campo. A Jan. 19 preliminary hearing was set. Sandoval reÂmains in the central jail.
