SAN RAMON — It might sound like a classic prank from the playbook of Bart Simpson or Dennis the Menace, but for one local resident there were swift legal repercussions.
A 38-year-old San Ramon man was given a 28-day jail sentence and court probation for placing a paper bag of “unknown feces” on his neighbor’s front door and setting it on fire. The sentenced, finalized in February, came after the man pleaded no contest to a vandalism charge, but he was initially charged with arson, court records show.
The victims — a couple who lived in the same apartment complex as the suspect — later told police they’d asked him to stop pouring water over his balcony because it was getting near their plants. The seemingly innocuous interaction is believed to be the motive, authorities said.
Police located doorbell camera footage of a man with a “muscular” build walking with the poop bag. He was later arrested on suspicion of arson and for a DUI warrant in Orange County, court records show. Around the same time as the Jan. 21 burning poop incident, the man was also suspected of crashing and abandoning his motorcycle on Bollinger Canyon Road, according to court records.
Police say they seized 37 bottles of suspected anabolic steroids from his apartment.