By Jorge Casuso

January 8, 2020 -- A homeless man with a long record of misdemeanors was arrested for arson in connection to an alley dumpster fire last month that spread to the Huntley Hotel.

Calvin Jacob Herring, a 35-year-old homeless man, was arrested on December 23 after police obtained footage from a surveillance camera in the area when the December 22 incident took place.

"Arson investigators were able to obtain the footage and provide the suspect description to patrol officers," said Lt. Candice Cobarrubias, the Police Department spokesperson.

Herring was found at 3:30 p.m. the following day near the hotel at 2nd Street and Wilshire Boulevard Downtown, Cobarrubias said.

He is being held on $250,000 bail.

The fire broke out in a trash bin behind the Huntley nd spread to the lower floors of the Downtown highrise before some 40 firefighters put out the blaze ("Fire Breaks Out at Huntley Hotel," December 23, 2019).

Both the 19-story hotel and an adjacent apartment building were evacuated, Cobarrubias said.

According to court records, Herring has made 21 appearances since 2013 at the Airport Courthouse, which hears cases that take place in Santa Monica and surrounding communities.

The cases stemmed from misdemeanor arrests that included possession of a knife in public, for which he was sentenced to 180 days in County Jail, and possession of a stun gun in public, for which he was sentenced to three months probation.

He has also been arrested for spousal battery, vandalism, lewd conduct, drug possession and trespassing.

On his Facebook page, Herring identifies himself as a native and resident of Oakland.

Herring is part of a revolving-door court system that puts violators quickly back on the street, according to police and court records analyzed by the Lookout.

In December, the suspect arrested in an assault on an 87-year-old Santa Monica resident had been arrested 19 other times, mostly for misdemeanors ("Suspect in Random Assault on Elderly Man Has Long Arrest Record," December 12, 2019).

In November, another a repeat offender with a string of prior misdemeanor arrests was charged with assault with a deadly weapon in a stabbing near the Downtown library ("Police Arrest Repeat Offender in Downtown Stabbing," November 13, 2019).