Pinkberry co-founder convicted of assault in LA
Nov 9, 2013, 3:13 AM | Updated: 3:13 am
LOS ANGELES (AP) – A co-founder of the popular frozen yogurt chain Pinkberry was found guilty Friday of beating a homeless man with a tire iron in Los Angeles.
Young Lee, 49, was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon and faces up to seven years in prison when he’s scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 14.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Henry Hall also declared Lee a “significant threat to the community” because he had threatened a witness at trial. Lee, who is no longer affiliated with Pinkberry, was ordered jailed without bail until his sentencing.
Prosecutors said Lee confronted Daniel Bolding in June 2011 after he flashed a sexually explicit tattoo to several people in Lee’s car, including his fiancee. Lee drove away, and came back with another man who’d been in the car and beat Bolding.
Bolding was struck twice in the head and suffered a broken arm before witnesses stopped the attack.
“I think there was a sense of entitlement felt by the defendant to the point where he felt he was disrespected by someone he believed to be below him,” Deputy District Attorney Bobby Zoumberakis said.
Lee’s attorneys said their client wasn’t the attacker by trying to cast doubt on witness testimony.
Bolding also has filed a lawsuit against Lee seeking damages for the attack.
Lee, an architect, co-founded Pinkberry with Shelly Hwang and they opened the first Pinkberry store in West Hollywood in 2005. The franchise chain became wildly popular, drawing celebrities and long lines.
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