Jake Paul has been charged with trespassing following his presence at an Arizona Mall where looting took place on Saturday, May 30.
According to the Scottsdale Police Department in a statement released on Thursday, June 4, the YouTuber, 23, was confirmed to be in attendance amid the Scottsdale Fashion Square Mall looting incident and has been identified as being present during the riot.
“Our investigation has revealed that Paul was present after the protest was declared an unlawful assembly and the rioters were ordered to leave the area by the police,” the statement, obtained by Us Weekly reads. “Paul also unlawfully entered and remained inside of the mall when it was closed.”
Paul has been charged with criminal trespass and unlawful assembly, both of which are misdemeanors.
Following the event, which took place following the death of George Floyd after an incident with four police officers in Minneapolis on May 25, the Scottsdale police said via a Twitter statement that they have made a total of 20 arrests so far.
The statement added that $46,000 was recovered in property. “We thank the public for the information that has been provided and anticipate additional arrests,” the department added via Twitter.
On Saturday, the Ohio native was captured on film at the site of the looting and rioting, but denied taking part in either action.
“To be absolutely clear, neither I nor anyone in our group was engaged in any looting or vandalism,” Paul explained in a statement on Sunday, May 31, via his Instagram Story.
“For context, we spent the day doing our part to peacefully protest one of the most horrific injustices our country has ever seen, which led to use being tear-gassed for filming the events and brutality that were unfolding in Arizona,” he continued. “We filmed everything we saw in an effort to share our experience and bring more attention to the anger felt in every neighborhood we traveled through; we were strictly documenting, not engaging.”
The social media star reiterated that he does “not condone violence, looting or breaking the law.”
Two days later, Paul’s brother, Logan Paul, opened up about the allegations that Jake had participated in illegal activity while in Arizona during the Tuesday, June 2, episode of his “Impaulsive” podcast.
“Why he was inside of a mall that was being looted, I have no idea,” he said. “I talked to him on the phone, he was at a dinner that was next to the mall. It was very unfortunate but very on-brand for Jake Paul to magically be seen at a looting site.”
Logan, 25, didn’t understand why Jake was anywhere near the mall, but he was certain that he didn’t do any looting. “While I condemn that he was at a looting site and stuck around long enough for videos to be taken to make it look like he was kinda hanging out, you are a f–king moron if you think my brother was actively participating in looting,” he explained.
Jake again defended himself in a YouTube video posted on Wednesday, June 3, in which he discussed his feelings on the current racial injustices going on within the U.S. His video, which is titled, “The looting situation explained (deleting soon),” shared links to different organizations people can donate to aid the fight for Black Lives Matter. Jake has raised over $37k for the NAACP.
For more information, visit Blacklivesmatter.com.
