SECOND ARSONIST SENTENCED TO PRISON FOR BURNING DOWN CHASE BANK IN LA MESA

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By Miriam Raftery

Photo by Jake Rose: Chase Bank in flames during May 30, 2020 riot in downtown La Mesa

April 5, 2022 (La Mesa) – One of several people alleged to have set fires which burned down the Chase Bank in La Mesa following a May 30, 2020 riot has been sentenced to 16 months in prison.  Alexander King, 20, pleaded guilty in February to a felony count of recklessly causing fire of a structure.

Co-defendant Ricky Bernard Cooper, 34, was previously sentenced to probation for two years last fall, prompting outraged comments from some La Mesa residents.

King’s attorneys had also sought probation during the sentencing hearing at the El Cajon courthouse yesterday, but a judge ruled King must serve time behind bars.

Three buildings were burned to the ground during the riot, which occurred after a racial justice protest over the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer who has since been convicted of murder. Protesters in La Mesa also marched over objections to the treatment of Amaurie Johnson, a young black man, by a La Mesa Police officer who was fired soon after and prosecuted for falsifying a police report, but a jury found him not guilty. 

The other two buildings burned the same night as Chase Bank included Union Bank and the Randall lamb historic building, all near the heart of La Mesa’s historic downtown village. The flames threatened to spread to other structures, with rioters blocking firefighters’ access, terrorizing  nearby residents.

Daniel Louis Sandoval, 44, pleaded guilty to arson at the Randall Lamb building. Zachary Alexander Karas was convicted of bringing explosive Molotov cocktails to the protest that night and was sentenced to nearly three years in federal prison.

Police indicate that others involved in the arson incidents remain at large. To date, nobody has been arrested for the burning down of Union Bank.

Both banks have announced plans to rebuild but thus far, construction has not begun, nor has anything been rebuilt on the vacant lot where the Randall Lamb building once stood.

If you have any information on arsonists involved in these crimes, please contact La Mesa Police or the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in San Diego, since burning a bank is a federal crime.

 


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