Man pleads guilty to vandalism and riot charges connected to anti-Trump protest in Costa Mesa

An Anaheim man was sentenced Friday to 12 days in jail and three years’ informal probation after he pleaded guilty to damaging a police patrol vehicle and inciting a group of protesters to riot outside an April rally by then-presidential candidate Donald Trump at the Orange County fairgrounds.

Luis Fernando Alarcon, 20, pleaded guilty in Orange County Superior Court to misdemeanor vandalism and misdemeanor riot charges. He was sentenced immediately, according to court records.

Alarcon previously was charged with a count of felony vandalism, but the court reduced it to a misdemeanor, according to the Orange County district attorney’s office.

Authorities said Alarcon ran toward a California Highway Patrol vehicle during the April 28 protest in Costa Mesa and yelled “[expletive] the police” at an officer through the car’s open window. He reached into his pocket and hurled what appeared to be a rock or roof tile at the patrol car, prosecutors said.

Police did not immediately arrest him and he continued to protest and block traffic as officers tried to clear the scene, prosecutors said.