Man facing 13 year sentence for writing anti-bank messages in chalk on sidewalk [View all]

[cali]

Jan Goldsmith's job as City Attorney is to represent the City of San Diego. In addition, it appears as if his office is also fully prepared to stand up for the little...rather, the big banks.

On Tuesday, the City Attorney's Office will make their case for prosecution of a 40-year-old man for writing anti-bank slogans in water soluble chalk on the sidewalk outside of three Bank of America branches in Mid-City.

This week, North Park resident Jeff Olson will appear in court to fight a charge of 13 counts of misdemeanor vandalism charges for writing protest slogans in chalk from February to August 2012. The charges could send Olson to jail for 13 years and put him on the hook for $13,000 in restitution to the City and to Bank of America.

Olson, a former staffer for a U.S. Senator from Washington, began to get involved in political activism around the time that Occupy Wall Street was in full swing. But for him, sleeping in a tent downtown or singing along to protest songs was not the right strategy.

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http://www.sandiegoreader.com/weblogs/news-ticker/2013/jun/23/he-chalks-the-line-city-attorney-prosecutes-man-fo/