A former UC Santa Barbara employee who was arrested for vandalizing a campus building over the summer has been sentenced to three years of probation and placed in a residential treatment center.
Neil Paul Baker, 54, was arrested by UCSB police Aug. 19 after they responded to a report of a man vandalizing a window at the Engineering and Sciences Building.
Baker previously worked as an engineer at UCSB and was arrested in 2010 for allegedly making threats against the school. Charges eventually were dropped in that incident, although he was named a “person of interest” by campus police.
After his August arrest, the building was searched as a precaution but the facility was declared safe.
According to the complaint against him, Baker was charged with one count of felony vandalism exceeding $400 after he did “maliciously and unlawfully deface with graffiti and other inscribed material, damage and destroy UCSB, real and personal property, which belonged to UCSB.”
He was also charged with second-degree commercial burglary, as well as trespassing on private property.
No injuries were reported and no weapons were found at the scene, but police said they planned to increase patrols in the area.
In addition to his felony probation sentence, Baker was transported to the Veterans Affairs hospital in Los Angeles for evaluation and then subsequent treatment at a one-year residential facility chosen by VA officials, according to Arnie Tolks, the Santa Barbara County senior deputy district attorney who prosecuted the case.
Baker was ordered to pay restitution, stay 1,000 yards away from UCSB, have no contact with its employees or staff, and stop blogging, emailing or writing anything to do with UCSB, Tolks said.
— Noozhawk staff writer Lara Cooper can be reached at lcooper@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.