Advertisement

Pinkberry co-founder sentenced to 7 years for beating homeless man with tire iron

That was the maximum sentence that Young Lee could have received.

By Evan Bleier
Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter

After a jury found the co-founder of the Pinkberry frozen yogurt chain guilty of attacking a homeless man with a tire iron during an incident in June 2011, Young Lee was sentenced to seven years in prison on Friday.

The 49-year-old beat Donald Bolding with the weapon after the panhandler showed the occupants of a car Lee was driving a tattoo of a stick-figure couple having sex. After driving away, Lee returned and gave Bolding a broken left forearm and several cuts to the head by beating him.

Advertisement

“Apologize. You showed disrespect,” Lee reportedly said during the incident, according to City News Service.

“I’m befuddled. I’m like, ‘What are you talking about?’ That’s when he hits me with the tire iron,” Bolding said during an earlier hearing. “I’m trying to cover my head because he’s swinging the tire iron.”

When the guilty verdict was returned, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Henry Hall declared Lee a "significant threat to the community" because he allegedly threatened a witness who had seen what happened.

During closing arguments, Deputy Dist. Atty. Bobby Zoumberakis reminded the jury about that threat.

Advertisement

"Do you remember the moment when David Lee stood on the witness stand and told us he'd been threatened?" Zoumberakis asked. "'I'm going to cut the throat of your mother, your wife, your daughter and you.' And remember how the air left the room because you could tell how scared David Lee was?"

The seven-year sentence was the maximum that Lee could have received. Lee is no longer involved with Pinkberry.

[Los Angeles Times] [City News Service]

Latest Headlines