Charges were filed Wednesday against a 64-year-old man arrested on suspicion of vandalizing a number of businesses in the Topanga area by using rocks and cement bricks to smash glass windows and doors.
Edelidio David Wallace is set to undergo proceedings Jan. 24 to determine whether he is mentally competent to stand trial, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Wallace is charged with 17 counts of vandalism with $400 or more in damage or destruction of property, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Wallace was arrested about 3:30 p.m. Monday, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
Wallace has remained behind bars since then, jail records show.
Officers responded to three vandalism reports at around 3 a.m. Saturday, within three blocks of the 20900 block of Victory Boulevard, near De Soto Avenue, where the suspect allegedly used rocks and cement bricks to smash glass windows and doors of several vacant buildings before fleeing the area on foot, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
Police said the same suspect vandalized additional businesses on Vanowen Street, Topanga Canyon Boulevard and Sherman Way between 1 a.m. and 4 a.m. Monday by using bricks and rocks.
The incidents all occurred within a two-mile radius, and the LAPD’s Major Crimes Division was conducting a hate-crime investigation.
“The rocks recovered had `Glory’ and `Pay Up’ written on them,” police said.
Police said earlier this week that they were investigating whether the series of attacks might constitute hate crimes based on three of the businesses being Jewish-owned.
The Major Crimes Division was also investigating additional cases of vandalism in the same area Friday and Sunday to determine if they were related.
Detectives had earlier released a security image of the suspect, and described him as a 5-feet-8-inch-tall man weighing 170 pounds with balding gray hair.