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’s SUV, according to authorities and a source with knowledge of the arrest.
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’ Day weekend before carjacking the mayor’s city-owned Ford Expedition. The vehicle was recovered Tuesday afternoon hours after it was found missing.
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.
KTVU was first to report DeSilva’s arrest, which The Post confirmed with a source.
DeSilva is being held without bail and his arraignment is scheduled for Monday morning at Wiley W. Manuel Courthouse in Oakland.
DeSilva’s 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’t been employed at the school for at least two years.
“Oh my goodness,” the school official said when informed that DeSilva had been arrested for allegedly stealing the mayor’s vehicle.
DeSilva apparently worked as a PE teacher and his mother continues to work for the school.
North Hills’ website notes the Christian school’s mission is to “Love God. Serve Others. Change the World.”
Police say the bizarre crimes unfolded over President’s Day weekend, when City Hall was empty and lightly guarded.
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.
The California Post is here. Sign up for Morning Report.
Get the perfect blend of news, sports and entertainment delivered to your inbox every day.
Thanks for signing up!
The suspect allegedly “jimmied” the door to Lee’s office on Monday and made off with Lee’s SUV using an unsecured parking lot entrance.
Officials in the mayor’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A Substack post from 2024 that appears to have been penned by DeSilva to apply for North Hills’ school superintendent, position paints a picture of a young man who’d gone through a rough patch.
“Upon my return almost two years ago from a 3-year hiatus from living in Vallejo, I was a broken young man,” the post states. “Everything 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.”
