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PREVIOUSLY

• JUDGE: Seized Devices From Cal Poly Humboldt Activist Must be Returned, Digital Evidence Can’t Be Used
• Cal Poly Humboldt Activist Awaits Misdemeanor Charges Following Protest; Police Seize Devices
• Cal Poly Humboldt Activist Arrested, Three Students Handed Interim Suspensions for Nelson Hall Occupation
• I Saw the Shit Buckets. They Were Real. Inside Nelson Hall During the Occupation

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Criminal charges against Cal Poly Humboldt activist Rick Toledo are set to be dismissed in six months if he follows certain terms, under a pretrial diversion approved by a judge today.

Toledo was charged with misdemeanor assault, false imprisonment and battery for physically blocking a university employee for roughly 10 seconds during a pro-Palestine, pro-union and anti-ICE protest in February, as protestors entered a building.

Toledo during the Nelson Hall occupation Feb 27. | Photo by Dezmond Remington

But Humboldt County Superior Court Judge Heather Durand granted a diversion motion today submitted by Toledo’s attorney, civil rights lawyer Matthew Kellegrew, to dismiss the charges in six months, according to court minutes.

Under this diversion, he must follow the terms of an academic suspension that bans him from campus for the charges to be dismissed, according to Toledo.

This suspension ends in February, he said.

Toledo told the Outpost the diversion was a victory.

“I’m very, very grateful for it,” said Toledo, a 34-year-old masters student who aims to return to campus for the fall 2027 semester.

“I’m glad that I don’t have to go to trial. I’m glad that my charges are being dismissed, and that I am maintaining full innocence.”

According to court records, the District Attorney’s office filed an opposition to the diversion on Monday.

Toledo, who has participated in and led protests at the university for years, has maintained that the university was targeting him to prevent him from protesting.

Toledo was arrested in the middle of the night by university police shortly after the protest and banned from campus through a suspension and workplace violence restraining order, with the latter being later dismissed.

A judge also tossed a search warrant earlier this year that was used by police to enter his home and seize his devices, while upholding the arrest warrant. Toledo expects to get the devices back soon.

Toledo said he lost his job, was banned from school during his final semester, struggled to find a new job with pending criminal charges, and suffered extreme financial hardships and emotional distress while awaiting trial.

But he said donations and help from his supporters kept him afloat.

“Really the reason that I’ve survived, and the reason that I have a roof over my head, and that my cats are fed, and that I have a car and a job and anything, is the support that I received nationally and from the community,” he said.

“So, my life would have been ruined if it weren’t for them.”

Toledo said he is considering filing a lawsuit against the university for economic and emotional damages.

“Ultimately, I did come out on top, and now I am going to seek some kind of legal retribution for what they did to me,” he said.

The District Attorney and a spokesperson for Cal Poly Humboldt each did not immediately return emailed request for comment before publishing time.

The next hearing for his case is in April, but Toledo intends to appeal for early dismissal, in line with when the academic suspension ends.