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A YouTuber who pepper-sprayed a man outside a Mountain View Costco pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor battery charge last week in exchange for being sentenced to one year of court probation, with credit for time served.
Los Angeles resident Richard Maza, 51, deployed pepper spray on a shopper at Costco on March 28 while recording a video for his YouTube channel, “Freedom of the Press.”
Maza describes himself as a “First Amendment auditor,” part of a movement whose members exercise their right to film in public – and then post the videos online, often featuring confrontations with passersby. In the case of the March 28 incident, Mountain View police said Maza went too far, intentionally provoking and pepper-spraying Milpitas maintenance worker Paul Rubino to generate views.
After a confrontation with Rubino, Maza followed him to his car. When Maza put his camera in Rubino’s open window, Rubino pushed him away. Maza then pepper-sprayed him, police said.
Supporters of First Amendment auditors say that they use pepper spray in self defense, but Santa Clara County prosecutor Rob Baker argued Maza’s actions were not protected.
“Self-defense wasn’t an issue. It was clear Mr. Maza intended to agitate people for the purpose of provoking a reaction for social media,” Baker said in an email to this publication. “Also, when Mr. Maza used the pepper spray, the victim was attempting to leave the area in his vehicle and posed no threat to him.”
Maza pleaded no contest on May 19 to misdemeanor battery in exchange for prosecutors dropping a felony charge for illegal use of tear gas. Under California law, Maza is now permanently prohibited from possessing pepper spray in the state. He will also not be allowed to possess a firearm for 10 years, Baker said.
For one year, Maza will be on “court probation,” which does not subject him to formal supervision but requires him to refrain from committing additional crimes and consent to being searched by police without the need for probable cause.
No jail time was required, beyond the six days Maza initially spent incarcerated after his arrest.
“Many similarly situated defendants often get judicial diversion in cases like this, but given his motivation to provoke a reaction for social media, coupled with the strong video evidence, I felt a conviction was appropriate so that it would be illegal for him to possess a gun for 10 years,” Baker wrote. “I would hate for him to do something like this again and shoot someone under a false pretext of ‘self-defense,’ as he did here.”
Maza was also ordered to pay $165 to the state’s victim restitution fund. He may also be required to pay Rubino restitution, although an amount has not yet been determined, according to court documents.
Rubino’s court-appointed public defender Lara Wallman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Richard Troyan with True North Transparency, Richard Maza with “Freedom of the Press” YouTube channel, and Nick and Conrad Rankin with iiMPACT MEDIA. Courtesy iiMPACT MEDIA via YouTube posts.
Maza to face a pair of lawsuits
The sentencing does not end Maza’s legal troubles stemming from a trip to the Bay Area with a group of fellow auditors. Rubino is suing Maza and three other auditors in federal court for assault and racketeering, alleging they used threats and violence as part of a scheme to profit from confrontational videos. Rubino is seeking $3 million in damages and is asking a judge to order the YouTubers to divest from their channels and related companies.
“This has been a very traumatizing thing, not just the pain but also the emotional impact. I haven’t been the same dude,” Rubino previously said. “Someone needs to answer for that.”
Because Maza did not plead guilty, the plea cannot be used directly against him to prove liability in Rubino’s civil case.
“This is disappointing because when someone pleads ‘no contest’ to a felony, the plea can be used, but here, we cannot use it the same way under either California law or the Federal Rules of Evidence,” said Andrew Watters, Rubino’s attorney.
Watters told this publication that he will still try to introduce the conviction into evidence so a jury can weigh its value. Watters is also personally pursuing a separate civil lawsuit against Maza and others after he encountered a group of First Amendment auditors outside of Draeger’s Market in Menlo Park. He noted that he was not informed about Maza’s plea ahead of time.
“We were not consulted in any way about this, and my client will be disappointed with this result. This is a pretty light slap on the wrist for someone engaged in a large amount of bad, antisocial behavior,” Watters said.
Watters is still attempting to serve Maza with court papers to initiate Rubino’s lawsuit. According to Watters, people at Maza’s address have refused to answer the door.
Since his arrest, more than 150 of Maza’s roughly 260 YouTube videos have been removed or deleted from his channel.
The Costco confrontation was part of a trip to the Bay Area by a group of YouTubers, who filmed at locations in Mountain View and Menlo Park. Canadian YouTuber Richard Troyan who posts under “True North Transparency” and southern California YouTubers Nick and Conrad Rankin were filming with Maza at the Costco on March 28 but were not arrested.
The day after the Mountain View incident, while Maza was still in jail, the three other auditors were in downtown Menlo Park, where Troyan pepper sprayed a man outside an Ace Hardware and is now facing two felony charges.
All four YouTubers will be named in both civil lawsuits, according to Watters.
While Maza was arrested by Mountain View police the same day as the altercation, the case against Troyan has proven more difficult. San Mateo County prosecutors decided to charge Troyan over a month later. While a judge approved an arrest warrant for him earlier this month, police have yet to locate him and execute it, according to court records..
