{"id":186867,"date":"2026-02-21T00:50:24","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T00:50:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/186867\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T00:50:24","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T00:50:24","slug":"oakland-squatter-suspect-who-allegedly-stole-mayors-suv-ided","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/186867\/","title":{"rendered":"Oakland squatter suspect who allegedly stole mayor’s SUV IDed"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oakland police arrested a 29-year-old man who previously worked as a Christian school teacher for allegedly squatting out at City Hall for multiple days before stealing Mayor Barbara Lee\u2019s SUV<\/a>, according to authorities and a source with knowledge of the arrest.<\/p>\n

The suspect was identified early Friday as Logan Tell DeSilva, a 29-year-old man who allegedly avoided detection at City Hall for multiple days over the Presidents\u2019 Day weekend before taking the mayor\u2019s city-owned Ford Expedition<\/a>. The vehicle was recovered Tuesday afternoon hours after it was found missing.<\/p>\n

Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee\u2019s city-owned SUV was found stolen when city employees returned to work Tuesday. AP<\/p>\n

The mayor uses a Ford Expedition for traveling on city business. REUTERS<\/p>\n

Alameda County Jail records note that DeSilva was booked into Santa Rita Jail in Dublin early Friday on suspicion of felony counts of burglary and vehicle theft, along with related counts of vandalism and contempt of court.\u00a0<\/p>\n

KTVU was first to report DeSilva\u2019s arrest, which The Post confirmed with a source.<\/p>\n

DeSilva is being held without bail and his arraignment is scheduled for Monday morning at Wiley W. Manuel Courthouse in Oakland.<\/p>\n

DeSilva\u2019s LinkedIn profile lists him as a school teacher at North Hills Christian School, but an administrator at the school told The Post that DeSilva hasn\u2019t been employed at the school for at least two years.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh my goodness,\u201d the school official said when informed that DeSilva had been arrested for allegedly stealing the mayor\u2019s vehicle.\u00a0<\/p>\n

DeSilva apparently worked as a PE teacher and his mother continues to work for the school.<\/p>\n

North Hills\u2019 website notes the Christian school\u2019s mission is to \u201cLove God. Serve Others. Change the World.\u201d<\/p>\n

Oakland City Hall\u00a0was mostly deserted over the long Presidents\u2019 Day weekend. Obtained by CA Post<\/p>\n

Logan Tell DeSilva standing in a kitchen with a stove in the foreground.<\/p>\n

The suspect allegedly \u201cjimmied\u201d the door to the mayor\u2019s office, according to a source. Obtained by CA Post<\/p>\n

Police say the bizarre crimes unfolded over President\u2019s Day weekend, when City Hall was empty and lightly guarded.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Surveillance footage reviewed by investigators shows the suspect slipping into the civic center last Friday, apparently finding a place to lie low on one of the upper floors as security died down during the long holiday stretch, according to a source.<\/p>\n

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The suspect allegedly \u201cjimmied\u201d the door to Lee\u2019s office on Monday and made off with Lee\u2019s SUV using an unsecured parking lot entrance.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs with criminal cases such as this, the Oakland Police Department is actively investigating, and we cannot comment further at this time,\u201d Lee said in a statement. \u201cNo one in Oakland should have to worry about their car being stolen, whether they\u2019re a resident, a city worker, or the Mayor. Public safety is a priority across our entire city.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Substack post<\/a> from 2024 that appears to have been penned by DeSilva to apply for North Hills\u2019 school superintendent, position paints a picture of a young man who\u2019d gone through a rough patch.<\/p>\n

\u201cUpon my return almost two years ago from a 3-year hiatus from living in Vallejo, I was a broken young man,\u201d the post states. \u201cEverything I had been taught had crumbled, all of my earthly skills faltering as impotent before circumstances ordained by Our Maker; my faith hung on by the single thread of Jesus Christ having existed being an incontrovertible fact.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oakland police arrested a 29-year-old man who previously worked as a Christian school teacher for allegedly squatting out…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":186868,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[8253,7,4415,4182,143,145,144,238,3586],"class_list":{"0":"post-186867","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oakland","8":"tag-burglaries","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-mayor","11":"tag-metro","12":"tag-oakland","13":"tag-oakland-headlines","14":"tag-oakland-news","15":"tag-theft","16":"tag-us-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186867\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}