Authorities ID four arrested in Westminster Woods protest

A group of masked and hooded demonstrators who were arrested Friday after they barricaded the entrance to an Occidental-area retreat center were protesting an event hosted by a Berkeley rationality and cognitive bias nonprofit, the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office said Monday.

Four people were taken into custody after sheriff’s deputies swarmed the wooded area outside the Westminster Woods camp near Camp Meeker, where authorities were told about 3:40 p.m. of a group of “unwanted people,” including one person said to have had a gun, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

No weapon was found but the protesters, wearing robes and Guy Fawkes masks, did not follow deputies’ orders and physically resisted efforts to detain them, the Sheriff’s Office said. The mask is a symbol of the online group Anonymous and is worn by the main character in the movie “V for Vendetta” though it does not appear the protesters were with any specific group, Sonoma County Sheriff’s spokeswoman Misti Wood said.

The arrested suspects were identified Monday afternoon as Jack Lasota, 28, of Berkeley, Emma Borhanian, 28, of Albany, Gwen Danielson, 25, a homeless person and Alexander Leatham, 24, whose hometown was unknown, authorities said.

The group was found carrying pepper spray, a body-worn camera and walkie-talkie radios, the Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

All except Borhanian remained at the Sonoma County Jail on Monday afternoon on bail of $50,000.

Each faced offenses including felony suspicion of child endangerment, false imprisonment, conspiracy, misdemeanor resisting arrest, wearing a mask while committing a crime and trespassing, authorities said. A fifth person, who initially claimed to be a reporter, was released. Authorities determined that person committed no crime, the Sheriff’s Office said.

Protesters used a small bus, a box truck and a Toyota Prius to block both entrances to Westminster Woods, preventing anyone from leaving, the Sheriff’s Office said. A group of about a dozen adults with the Center for Applied Rationality, the Berkeley nonprofit, were guests at the campground at the time, authorities said. ? A SWAT team was called in, and along with deputies, they swept the area in search of a gunman while a Sheriff’s Office helicopter flew overhead.

About 50 people, including about three dozen who were sheltering in place at Westminster Woods, were evacuated from the campground and driven to the Occidental Fire Department in a school bus.

The suspects declined to identify themselves in subsequent interviews with deputies, leading detectives to use fingerprints to identify them, the Sheriff’s Office said.

You can reach Staff Writer Nashelly Chavez at 707-521-5203 or nashelly.chavez@pressdemocrat.com.