3 former SLO High students plead not guilty in school arson case

Three former San Luis Obispo High School students accused of setting the school’s computer lab on fire — causing $750,000 in damage — were in court Thursday to enter pleas to felony arson charges that could send each of them to state prison for up to eight years.

Jacob Lee Ruth, 19, and Cameron Ross Bratcher and Michael Giovanni Benadiba, both 18, are each charged with a single count of felony arson, charges that carry an additional criminal enhancement for causing damage in excess of $200,000.

The San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office also filed an additional count of arson and two felony second-degree burglary charges against Ruth stemming from separate incidents at the school in the week leading up to the fire. Ruth was arrested for a second time on Friday and booked into County Jail on those charges, where he’s remained since in lieu of $500,000 bail.

At an arraignment Thursday, Ruth sat shackled in an orange jumpsuit next to other inmates while Bratcher and Benadiba sat in the general audience with their parents.

Each pleaded not guilty to the charges against them. Ruth additionally pleaded not guilty to all charges in his separate case.

Shortly after midnight on Dec. 8, San Luis Obispo Fire Department crews arrived to find the school’s computer lab fully engulfed in flames. Though firefighters saved the building and stopped the fire from spreading to other structures, the contents of the computer lab — including about $40,000 worth of equipment that took years for the school robotics club to accumulate — was a total loss.

While crews fought the fire, a witness reported seeing three men park their car and jump over a fence leading toward the high school campus before the fire started. Officers found the three men as they returned to their car.

San Luis Obispo High School Principal Leslie O’Connor said previously that the three men were all former students of the school. Ruth graduated, Bratcher withdrew from the school and Benadiba transferred out.

According to the San Luis Obispo Police Department, the former students were unhappy with an unnamed teacher from their time at the school.

Assistant District Attorney Lee Cunningham said Thursday that the additional charges against Ruth stem from separate burglaries at a concession stand and a classroom at SLO High School between Dec. 3 and Dec. 6, as well as another arson fire. More information about those incidents was not immediately available.

Court records show that prosecutors petitioned San Luis Obispo Superior Court Judge Dodie Harman to increase the three defendants’ previously set bail amounts. Harman denied those requests but set a bail hearing for Dec. 27.

As a condition of bail, none of the defendants are allowed to communicate with each other.

All three are due back in court for a preliminary hearing on Jan. 5.

This story was originally published December 22, 2016 at 5:40 PM with the headline "3 former SLO High students plead not guilty in school arson case."