Prosecutors file more charges against former student barred from Orange Coast College

Prosecutors filed additional charges Monday against a former Orange Coast College student suspected of vandalism, disturbing the peace and violating a protective order that barred him from the Costa Mesa campus.

Robert Bouton McDougal, 21, of Costa Mesa is now facing a felony count of vandalism with damage of $400 or more, as well as various misdemeanor counts, including five counts of violating a protective order, two counts of resisting and obstructing an officer, one count of disturbing the peace on a school campus, one count of disturbing public school and a count of remaining on campus without consent, according to the Orange County district attorney’s office.

The district attorney’s office filed the count of disturbing the peace on a school campus on March 29 but amended its complaint Monday to include the additional charges.

McDougal pleaded not guilty to the disturbing the peace charge in April. He has not entered a plea on the new charges, according to Orange County Superior Court records.

If convicted of all charges, he could face a maximum sentence of three years in state prison and seven years in county jail.

According to OCC officials, McDougal’s issues at the college began in February when he began incessantly emailing his chemistry instructor asking to retake an exam with the help of a calculator.

He had received a B on the exam without a calculator, a lower grade than he had expected. The instructor, Amy Hellman, declined his request to retake the test, according to transcripts of emails filed in Superior Court in March.

A week after the exam, school officials say, McDougal — who had dropped the course — barged into the classroom while other students were present. Security officers escorted McDougal out of the building, but when they weren’t looking, he ran back inside and sprinted in circles around the classroom, according to a Costa Mesa police report.

Prosecutors allege McDougal yelled a racial slur at a campus safety officer, and security officers eventually used pepper spray to subdue him after he kicked them, according to police, who arrested him.

McDougal’s attorney, John Christl, on Tuesday painted a different picture of that incident. In an interview with the Daily Pilot, he called the criminal charges “erroneous” and said the college should have handled the situation differently.

Christl said McDougal suffers from disabilities, though he declined to elaborate.

College administrators and Hellman were aware of McDougal’s disabilities and failed to provide him adequate resources to take the exam, Christl alleged.

Christl said McDougal was too embarrassed to ask for a calculator during the exam and that when he received his score, he became “fixated” on improving it.

According to Christl, Hellman eventually agreed to allow him to retake the exam after class. However, when McDougal arrived, campus security was waiting for him, Christl said.

“He was tackled and pepper-sprayed,” Christl said. “It’s amazing what they’ve done to this boy. It’s horrific. It’s something that could have been completely avoided had the college handled it the right way from the very beginning.”

A restraining order barring McDougal from entering the campus or contacting Hellman was granted by Superior Court Judge Michael McCartin in March at the behest of college officials.

Christl said his client is unable to comprehend the significance of a restraining order.

On March 7, McDougal was suspended from all Coast Community College District facilities until March 2019, according to college officials.

He was arrested again March 13 on suspicion of carving a swastika and the “N-word” into the hoods of two OCC security vehicles and slashing the tires. He was booked into Orange County Jail and later posted bail.

Prosecutors allege McDougal returned to the campus several times between April 21 and May 25, in violation of the protective order.

He is expected to appear in Superior Court in Westminster on June 20 for a pretrial hearing.

hannah.fry@latimes.com

Twitter: @HannahFryTCN