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A homeless man, incarcerated for more than five months after allegedly setting fire to a trash can at the Menlo Park Caltrain station last October, pleaded no contest March 28 to the misdemeanor of “reckless burning.”
Craig Alexander Cuthbert, 23, had served 153 days in the San Mateo County jail, in custody on $25,000 bail, before the plea. He was placed on 18 months of supervised probation, during which time he will be subject to search and seizure and will have to abstain from alcohol and drugs. The judge reportedly decided that Mr. Cuthbert had served enough time, according to San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe.
Prosecutors said a witness recorded a cellphone video of Mr. Cuthbert setting the trash can on fire and “smiling in a self-satisfied way” at around 11 p.m. on Oct. 26, 2016.
Mr. Cuthbert claimed that the witness had been hanging out with him and had offered him $100 to set the trash can on fire. The witness denied it, according to prosecutors.
The witness reported the fire and the fire district extinguished it, prosecutors said. Authorities found a barbecue lighter in Mr. Cuthbert’s backpack.
Earlier in the legal proceedings, Mr. Cuthbert’s attorney had questioned his competency to stand trial and two doctors were assigned to evaluate him. The doctors concluded that he was competent for trial, but that he has some mental health problems, prosecutors said.
Mr. Wagstaffe said the judge had ordered supervised probation for Mr. Cuthbert with the goal of having someone assigned to help him access mental health care and possibly housing.
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