YouTuber Jake Paul is facing charges yet again in relation to a 2020 incident where he and friends were spotted looting a mall in Scottsdale, Arizona.
The gathering took place after the murder of George Floyd in May of 2020, when Paul was seen reportedly burglarizing stores and lighting fireworks outside of a shopping center alongside friends.
Jake was initially charged with criminal misdemeanors, criminal trespass and unlawful assembly, but charges were dropped by City of Scottsdale when the feds began an investigation. But now, the City Attorney re-filed the case after the feds completed an investigation and decided against prosecuting Paul.
Last year, the federal investigation included raids at Jake’s homes in Calabasas and Las Vegas. But his additional charges find him due in court sometime after Labor Day, TMZ reports. He could face a maximum of a year in jail.
In May 2020, Jake issued a notes-app clarification on Twitter, explaining to his followers what he was doing at the mall and sharing that he doesn’t “condone violence, looting, or breaking the law.”
“To be absolutely clear, neither I nor anyone in our group was engaged in any looting or vandalism,” Jake wrote. “For context, we spend the day doing our party to peacefully protest one of the most horrific injustices our country has ever seen, which led to us being tear-gassed for filming the events and brutality that were unfolding in Arizona. We were gassed and forced to keep moving on foot. 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.”
