Colorado man arrested after Cal Poly Humboldt burglary, vandalism

Cal Poly Humboldt police arrested 36-year-old Thomas Jackson Hayes of Pierce, Colorado, after officers found him inside a fenced construction area near B Street and Harpst Street and later connected him to damaged campus vehicles and a broken parking kiosk window.

University Police said the encounter began at about 12:38 a.m. on July 4, 2026, when an officer patrolling near B Street, just north of Harpst Street in Arcata, saw a man waving a wooden stick near a parked Cal Poly Humboldt vehicle inside the fenced area. Investigators later said Hayes entered an unlocked University shuttle vehicle, broke a side window on a separate Transit Connect campus vehicle and damaged a window at the campus parking kiosk.

Police arrested Hayes on suspicion of burglary under Penal Code section 459 and vandalism causing damage of more than $400 under Penal Code section 594(a)(2). The case was referred to the Humboldt County District Attorney’s Office for prosecution, and bail was set at $25,000.

University Police said Hayes is not enrolled as a student and has no campus association. The department also described the incident as isolated and said there was no further threat to campus safety, a point that will matter for students, staff and anyone relying on the campus shuttle and parking facilities as summer traffic remains lighter than during the academic term.

The timing shows how quickly a small disturbance can turn into a campus response issue. A University Police calls-for-service log for July 4 listed a burglary call at Lot G-11 at 3:08 a.m., adding another data point to the overnight timeline around the Arcata campus. The incident struck at the edge of campus infrastructure rather than inside a classroom building, but it still touched the daily systems that move people and keep the university running: shuttle access, parking equipment and vehicles used by staff and contractors.

For Cal Poly Humboldt, the arrest landed during a holiday period when the campus was quieter but still had officers on patrol. That combination of reduced foot traffic and routine police coverage is what brought the encounter to light before it spread farther across the campus core.