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The San Ramon Police Department placed a local teen under arrest Thursday for allegedly spray-painting racially insensitive graffiti at three spots around Crow Canyon Road and Camino Ramon.
Jacob Leigh, 18, of San Ramon was booked into jail on suspicion of vandalism and committing a hate crime, according to San Ramon police Capt. Denton Carlson.
The graffiti was spray-painted onto the exterior of multiple commercial buildings, as well as an ATM, last Sunday. Members of the SRPD worked with the employees of local businesses to remove the graffiti immediately, which had been spray-painted early that morning, Carlson said.
The SRPD received multiple high-quality images of the culprit on Monday, taken by the video surveillance camera inside the vandalized ATM at 2190 Camino Ramon, according to the captain. These images were then distributed to local law enforcement agencies in order to identify the suspect.
The images were then posted by the SRPD on social media, and the community of San Ramon provided multiple investigative tips, allowing SRPD to positively identify the suspect as Leigh, according to Carlson.
The captain said detectives served a search warrant at Leigh’s home Thursday morning and recovered numerous items of evidentiary value associated with the crimes, though Leigh was not at the residence.
Carlson said Leigh turned himself in to the SRPD and detectives placed him under arrest later Thursday afternoon. The 18-year-old was booked at the Martinez Detention Facility for violations of hate crime and multiple violations of vandalism, with bail set at $40,000.
“The members of the San Ramon Police Department would like to thank the San Ramon Community for their assistance in identifying this suspect. Their commitment to justice, inclusion and equality shined through based on their obvious displeasure associated with crimes of this nature,” Carlson said in a statement.
So glad to see our SRPD caught this 18 year old! I saw the picture posted to Twitter and he obviously appeared to be a kid going down the wrong path. I hope this experience is enough to change course.