A 34-year-old transient man was arrested for second-degree malicious mischief after he allegedly tried to destroy the dining tent at the homeless shelter on Mill Road.

Christopher Ryan Baldwin entered a pleading of not guilty to the felony charge during his arraignment Friday in Jefferson County Superior Court.

According to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, deputies were called to the homeless camp, named Caswell-Brown Village, on Christmas Eve and Christmas after dispatchers received reports that Baldwin was having a mental-health issue or drug-induced crisis and was tearing apart his RV and breaking things.

Baldwin refused assistance when first contacted by a deputy, and was gone when a deputy returned a second time.

Two weeks later, the camp monitor called again just after 1 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 8 to say that Baldwin had “destroyed the dining tent” and fled on foot.

A deputy arrived as people were trying to clean up the destruction, according to court documents.

A camp monitor told a deputy Baldwin had come into the dining tent and started tossing tables around. He then threw a toaster oven and other items and began to rip down the support posts to the tent.

Baldwin tried to rip out the wood stove, the camp monitor said, which had a fire in it at the time.

Video from a surveillance camera showed Baldwin enter the tent as he cussed and yelled at someone, though no one seemed to be around.

The video also showed the tent shaking and items being tossed around, and the stove pipe shake and then fall over as the tent began to collapse.

Baldwin was seen leaving the tent on the video. The camp monitor and tenants rushed over to make sure the tent didn’t catch fire, according to the statement of probable cause for Baldwin’s arrest.

Baldwin was later found and taken into custody.

He allegedly told a deputy “he keeps hearing voices in his head and he want them to stop,” according to the statement of probable cause. “He implied that he destroyed the tent out of anger because he wants the voices to stop.”

The deputy noted that Baldwin thought the voices were real and he appeared to be self-medicating with drugs and alcohol.

OlyCAP said the dining tent was valued at approximately $1,600.

A trial date was set for April 11.

Conviction of second-degree malicious mischief can result in a maximum prison term of five years and a $10,000 fine.