Printed reports by the Sun and other publications indicate that jailed First Amendment auditor David “Riverside County Accountability” Chavez, formerly part of a group known as the Justice Eight, took a plea deal on Friday.
6 street vendor advocates plead guilty to assault charges
Chavez was arrested in a stunning early morning raid in December, which he captured as the last posted live stream on his YouTube channel since then. The raid, echoed by similar raids across California that morning, came after an extensive police crackdown on a group Chavez was allegedly part of led by activist Edin Alex Enamorado.
The group, collectively, had been charged with assault, kidnapping and conspiracy after a series of incidents involving street vendors in Southern California last year.
Their specific charges came from an arranged protest in September in support of a 16-year-old girl who was body-slammed by a police officer after a football game. The protest turned violent as the auditors squared off with a male passenger in a vehicle, which resulted in an uninvolved citizen being pepper sprayed.
The group, dubbed “the Freedom 8,” has been held without the possibility of bond since December, which is unusual for offenders in the State of California. Courts justified holding the individuals due to the threat to public safety Enamorado and others caused by amassing groups of three hundred or more people to harass targets with a single post on social media.
These “spontaneous” gatherings plagued California last year as the group managed to hold them at a moment’s notice, often gathering hundreds of people in front of the residences of those accused of harassing or hurting a street vendor at a moment’s notice.
Police arriving at the gatherings were often overwhelmed by the size of the crowd and needed help to disperse the crowd from other police forces in the area. This led to a joint task force in the late summer and early fall that identified the ring leaders of the group and their eventual arrests.
David Chavez’s “Riverside Valley Accountability” YouTube page has been dormant since the arrest. While he was arrested with the group, his videos were forgettable for the most part. They blended in with countless other videos from Southern California based First Amendment auditors, though did occasionally focus on justice for street vendors.
Chavez agreed to take a plea on Friday deal where he will receive two years in state prison, with around a year credit for time served. He remains in custody as of press time.
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