Newport Beach church vandal faces felony charges for smashing windows with baseball bat
SANTA ANA, Calif. - Just days after he was released from jail in a separate vandalism case, a 27-year-old San Dimas man was charged Tuesday with vandalizing a Newport Beach church.
Nicolas Alexandro Briones was released from jail April 11 after pleading guilty March 29 to a felony count of vandalism, according to court and jail records. He was sentenced to 60 days in jail on March 29 and placed on two years of formal probation in connection with the March 10 crime, according to court records.
At about 2:45 a.m. Saturday, police responded to a vandalism call at Christ Church by the Sea, 1400 W. Balboa Blvd., Newport Beach Police Department Sgt. Shawn Dugan said. Stained glass windows were shattered at the church.
PREV. COVERAGE: Newport Beach church has stained glass windows smashed with baseball bat
PREV. COVERAGE: Christ Church By the Sea in Newport Beach resumed services Sunday after about a dozen volunteers came together to repair the damage done after a man was accused of using a baseball bat to shatter the church's decades-old stained-glass windows.
Investigators do not have any evidence that the vandalism amounted to a hate crime, Dugan said, adding that Briones does not appear to have any affiliation with the church.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Newport Beach church vandalized; suspect arrested
Briones was charged Tuesday with single felony counts each of vandalism and vandalism of religious property, according to court records.