A Palm Desert man is behind bars after Riverside County sheriff’s deputies say he threatened to stab a contractor who was repairing a vandalized surveillance camera on Fred Waring Drive on Monday morning, then slashed all four tires on the man’s utility vehicle. What deputies allege they found afterward inside his home has pushed the case well beyond a simple vandalism report.
Nathan Ceballos, 31, was arrested after deputies say he attacked the camera contractor near the 73000 block of Fred Waring Drive at around 10:25 a.m. Monday, according to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office. The contractor had been sent out to replace a Flock Safety license plate reader camera that had already been damaged once, and deputies say Ceballos threatened to stab him before slashing all four tires on the contractor’s utility vehicle, as first reported by NBC Palm Springs.
Deputies arrested Ceballos during a traffic stop near Palm Desert Drive and San Marcos Avenue. He was booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, criminal threats, and multiple felony vandalism counts, per the station’s report.
Search Warrant Turns Up Disturbing Evidence
After the arrest, deputies from the Robbery Burglary Suppression and Business District Teams executed a search warrant at Ceballos’ residence in the 73000 block of San Nicholas Avenue in Palm Desert, according to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office. There, investigators say they uncovered evidence connecting him to the Fred Waring Drive assault as well as additional camera vandalism incidents around the city…