When Huntington Beach Police revealed Tuesday that Illario Niko Johnson had been eliminated as the vandal suspected of smashing a Main Street bike store window with a stop sign, officers added something curious: Just because the Chino 18-year-old was not the bearded man from witness cell phone videos spreading throughout social media, that did not mean law enforcement did not harvest other video that implicated Johnson in a crime.
Well, thanks for that Easter egg, HBPD: today Johnson was arrested on suspicion of felony arson, inciting a riot, participating in an unlawful assembly and refusing to disperse when ordered, police announced.
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The police department's Facebook page credits
“the help of information provided by the public” with pointing them to Johnson “as one of the participants who was setting fires on Main Street.”
We'd mentioned him Tuesday here:
Chase Scott Christman Faces 3 Years for Role in Surf City Riots; Cops Close in on Stop-Sign Dude
That story includes examples of Johnson apparently bragging about being involved on Twitter. He may now want to tweet for a little help in raising $20,000 bail, the amount set when he was booked into the Huntington Beach City Jail and that the Orange County District Attorney's office (OCDA) will be seeking at his scheduled arraignment Thursday in Westminster.
An OCDA arraignment statement adds this: “Johnson is accused setting fire to a box of catalogs in the street and is charged with one felony count of arson of another's property, and one misdemeanor count each of inciting riots, participating in a rout and unlawful assembly, and refusal to disperse. … If convicted, he faces a sentencing ranging from probation up to three years in state prison.”
Meanwhile, Surf City detectives are still looking for the stop-sign dude as well as other riot participants. Call Huntington Beach Police Department's hotline at 714.375.5066 or email hb*******@gm***.com to help.
See also:
More Arrests Pending in U.S. Open of Surfing Riots as Police Identify Those Facing Charges
6 Possible Sparks to the Riots That Broke Out After the Vans U.S. Open of Surfing Ended
A Eulogy for the OC Weekly Rack Destroyed During the Huntington Beach Riots
Taiwanese Animators Ape Surf City's White Riot
Bike Shop Smashed in Sunday's Surf City Riots Seems to Wax Poetic About '86 Version: Video
Cops and Bros Clashing in Surf City: A Historical Timeline
Multiple U.S. Open of Surfing slideshows
Michael John Lytle, Surf City Riot Suspect, in Danger of Losing Fullerton Firefighter Job
Email: mc****@oc******.com. Twitter: @MatthewTCoker. Follow OC Weekly on Twitter @ocweekly or on Facebook!
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.