Early Friday morning, someone carefully stacked a pile of about 20 full garbage bags on the porch of the St. Vincent De Paul free meal facility, which has been distributing meals to those in need since 1981. Eureka police have a suspect and said the person has been identified as a homeless person with mental health issues.
“It took the guy about 45 minutes to put together the garbage bags,” said Bob Santilli, SVDP board member and facility administrator, after reviewing surveillance footage from the night.
The criminal garbage man struck around 1:15 a.m. Friday morning and was seen piling up black garbage bags to block the entrance. Given the timing of the trips, Santilli suspects the bags were stolen from a dumpster by the North Coast Co-Op, but the source is not visible in the footage.
At the end of the ritual, the man opened some bags and smeared the entrance and the sign with garbage.
Two young trees planted by Keep Eureka Beautiful were also ripped out that night.
“He knew he was on camera because he gave a kind of cheeky farewell at the end,” he said.
St. Vincent’s staff believe they recognize the person on surveillance footage who has performed similar activities before. Eureka police have a suspect, according to spokeswoman Laura Montagna.
“The individual was identified by EPD’s Community Safety Engagement (CSET) team as a homeless individual with mental health issues,” Montagna said in an email.
Santilli said the plan was to issue a temporary ban on the offender and leave it at that.
Although the huge pile of garbage blocked the door, volunteers and staff decided to keep going, giving boxed lunches to people seeking a meal. Sometimes the facility stops lunch service if there are large amounts of garbage nearby or many camps on the premises. But they decided to keep going, and Santilli estimates that 90% of the community they serve is respectful.
“We generally help the people that no one else is helping. (The staff) have such big hearts, I learn so much from them. They can endure these kinds of incidents and still focus on their mission,” Santilli said.
A person from another agency helped take the trash to the dump. Santilli said there are ongoing trash problems in and around the facility. That same night, an innocent person made a mess while rummaging through a nearby trash can. But something of this magnitude is rare. He said physical threats have decreased over the past five years and believes many of the remaining problems in Old Town and the surrounding area will be resolved when the Navigation Center opens nearby.
Sage Alexander can be reached at 707-441-0504.
