NorCal Climber, (former?) Gym Staff Member Arrested for Sexual Assault

Sharing this information in case there is someone here who has information that might be relevant to this case.

Jason Crist was arrested today on multiple sexual assault charges going back to 2019. He was a staff member at Movement SF, is still listed as an Arc’teryx NorCal ambassador (how I met him), and is currently out on bond.

Here is the San Mateo county portal through which you can access records on this case so far: https://odyportal-ext.sanmateocourt.org/Portal-External/Home/Dashboard/29 Record number: 24-NF-013756-A

Here is the post that originally alerted me to his arrest, via local guidebook author and climber: 

Again, my reason for posting this here is ensuring anyone who might have info relevant to the case has the opportunity to share that info with the Pacifica PD. I am not involved in the investigation.

My heart goes out to the alleged victims. 

A bump to the top as the east cost wakes up.  Thanks for sharing

Thanks, Todd. Many of the additional charges are enhancements. I have no idea why this is being handled by a county rather than federal court either. Perhaps someone with legal expertise can explain that. 

Concurrent jurisdiction. Depends on which entity is handling the criminal complaint/investigation. This does not mean that federal charges aren’t coming. One point of technicality, the County would not be the prosecutor, but the State of California. The County District Attorney prosecutes on behalf of the State. 

Frank Stein wrote:

Concurrent jurisdiction. Depends on which entity is handling the criminal complaint/investigation. This does not mean that federal charges aren’t coming. One point of technicality, the County would not be the prosecutor, but the State of California. The County District Attorney prosecutes on behalf of the State. 

Thanks for the insight, Frank. Appreciate it

Todd Berlier wrote:

I am curious as it seems that some of these acts were on federal land and my understanding is that he's being charged in a county court and not federal. Which I don't understand.

It's a little convoluted. I'll try to explain to the best of my knowledge. Crimes in National Parks are typically treated as Federal crimes and prosecuted in the geographically relevant US Federal Court. Yosemite, for example, even has its own courthouse so minor matters can be processed there without hauling people to Fresno every time there's a property crime arrest that needs to be arraigned.

National Forest and BLM lands, however, are treated a bit differently. The Federal govt, in those areas, delegates most law enforcement to local authorities, typically the local sheriff or any state police, in CA that would be the CHP or the local county sheriff's office. That doesn't mean that a rape in a National Forest isn't ALSO a Federal crime, but unless it has elements that would typically lead to it being prosecuted as a Federal crime, such as interstate human trafficking, the Feds will defer to local prosecution.

I know, for example, in the Charlie Barrett saga the reason policing and prosecution of the earlier crimes were seemingly mishandled was because local authorities in Inyo and Mono counties didn't have the same skills and victim supporting approach that the Federal investigators in Yosemite later demonstrated.

One last minor observation, Todd, is that California Courts are State Courts not "county courts." The confusion is caused by the naming convention of calling them something like "The Superior Court of California County of Los Angeles" which tends to be shortened as "Los Angeles County Superior Court."

Hope that helps clarify the question. 

This has now made it over to the general thread as Climbing Magazine and local news orgs have picked up the story. 

https://www.mountainproject.com/forum/topic/127226491/longtime-california-climber-arrested-on-rape-charges