A Portland man has been sentenced to 5 years in prison after pleading guilty to first-degree arson for starting a dumpster fire near the Portland Police Bureau’s North Precinct during a protest.
Gavaughn Street-Hillerich, 23, of Portland, was recorded on video intentionally setting fire to a large dumpster near the exterior of the precinct on June 26, 2020, according to court records. The container had been pushed up against plywood on the windows, which had been installed to protect windows and prevent break-ins, according to a news release from the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office.
At the time Streeter-Hillerich set fire to the building, about 19 people were inside the precinct, according to court records. Streeter-Hillerich suffered burns while setting the fire.
He will be on three years of post-prison supervision after release from the Oregon Department of Corrections.
The resolution of his case on Monday represents the second felony arson conviction resulting from the nightly demonstrations that began last spring.
Rollin Tristan Fodor, 18, was sentenced in August to three years of probation for his role in the same incident.
Prosecutors said Fodor, who at the time was 17, tossed a rubber trash can atop a growing dumpster fire set on the north side of the precinct shortly after 2 a.m. at Northeast Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Killingsworth Street.
Streeter-Hillerich and Fodor did not know each other, according to court records.
The sentencing comes two weeks after the district attorney brought new felony charges against 10 people for property damage in connection with civil unrest in the past year.
The district attorney’s office said Streeter-Hillerich’s sentence resolved two other pending charges that involved unlawful use of a weapon, coercion and fourth-degree assault.
“The sentence imposed by the judge considers all of the criminal conduct, and not just exclusively the arson case,” said Brent Weisberg, communications director for the Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office. “The District Attorney continues to prioritize the prosecution of violence and property destruction that has occurred during civil unrest.”
—Oregonian/OregonLive
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Why was Gavaughn Street-Hillerich prosecuted? I thought all of these rioters, who looted, stole, burned down buildings, assaulted the police and assaulted innocent people were “peaceful protesters”?
AND five years, for arson, is PIDDLY.. He should have gotten more like 15 years!
He should have been charged with 19 counts of attempted murder also, the building was occupied with 19 people.
Hence why i say 15 years should have been more like what he should have gotten…