East County News Service

June 30, 2025 (Santee) -- Sheriff's Deputies and Santee Fire personnel responded to a report of a fire near the Walmart on Town Center Parkway in Santee around 6:32 p.m. on June 28. As deputies were driving to the location, a second witness called Sheriff's Dispatch and reported they watched a man set fire to contents of a trashcan just outside the Walmart parking lot.

Deputies arrived on scene and detained the suspect, later identified as 30-year-old Ryan Crist, says Lieutenant Thomas Fletcher.