HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 22: Jake Paul attends Logan Paul Workout Showcase at Wild Card Boxing Club on October 22, 2019 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Leon Bennett/Getty Images)
SCOTTSDALE, AZ — The Scottsdale Arizona Police Department has charged social media influencer and YouTuber Jake Paul with criminal trespassing and unlawful assembly. They say the charges come after receiving hundreds of tips and videos from the public showing he was present during the looting of a mall.
The 23-year-old YouTube star who has over 20 million subscribers on the video-sharing platform says he was there to be a part of the “ground-floor of change” and to document what was happening.
In a video posted to YouTube, Paul says that as he was trying to leave the protests after seeing a nearby Apple store looted. Paul says police used tear gas to clear those around the Apple store and while he was on the way back to his car he passed the Scottsdale Fashion Square Mall.
“In hindsight, we shouldn’t have been anywhere near what was going on and should have removed ourselves from the situation. But in the heat of the moment, I wanted to document what was going on and witness it for myself, and that’s where I made the poor decision to go inside the mall,” Paul said.
The Scottsdale Police have already made a number of arrests in relation to the looting that happened at the Arizona mall and that Paul has been summoned to appear in court in a month.
While none of the videos posted to social media of Paul in the mall show him vandalizing or stealing anything, he has been charged with both criminal trespassing and unlawful assembly which are both misdemeanor charges for being “present after the protest was declared an unlawful assembly and the rioters were ordered to leave the area by police.”