A man suspected with his girlfriend of igniting fires using aerosol canisters and gasoline, causing damage to a residential wall in Wildomar, was released from custody Tuesday.
Devin James Rodriguez of Wildomar was arrested and booked into the Byrd Detention Center in Murrieta on Friday on suspicion of arson resulting in property damage and felony vandalism.
Rodriguez had been held in lieu of 10,000 bail, but on Tuesday morning, he was released on his own recognizance before any criminal charges could be filed by the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office.
It’s possible the suspect was among detainees routinely turned out of county correctional facilities due to overcrowding, but that couldn’t immediately be confirmed.
Rodriguez’s alleged cohort, 18-year-old Jazmine Carrillo of Wildomar, was booked into the Murrieta jail for the same allegations last week, but she posted a $10,000 bond and was released from custody Saturday.
According to Sgt. Jarrod Meissen of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, shortly after 11 p.m. Thursday, deputies were called to the 33000 block of Hillcrest Court, near Vista Del Agua, less than a mile east of Interstate 15, to investigate reports of arson-related vandalism.
A resident recorded images via his home security cameras of a man and woman — later identified as the two suspects — “spray-painting a large section of the property’s perimeter wall,” Meissen said.
“One of the suspects was also combining gasoline with the contents of the spray-paint cannister to create large explosions and flames,” the sergeant said.
He estimated damage to the wall to be in excess of $1,000.
Deputies quickly confirmed the alleged vandals’ identities, culminating in the arrests of Rodriguez and Carrillo — her on Furrow Court, and him on Sellers Road — Friday afternoon.
A possible motive for the pair’s alleged activity, aside from it occurring on the Fourth of July, was not disclosed.
Background information on the suspects also wasn’t available.