| For Immediate Release Case # 10WM08940
|
Susan Kang Schroeder Chief of Staff Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami |
OFF-DUTY FIRE DEPARTMENT ARSON INVESTIGATOR CHARGED WITH BRANDISHING GUN
AT WOMAN IN BAR
WESTMINSTER – An off-duty arson investigator with the Hermosa Beach Fire Department has been charged with brandishing a firearm at a woman sitting next to him in a bar in Sunset Beach. Darryl Lee Powers, 49, La Palma, was charged Thursday, Aug. 19, 2010, with one misdemeanor count of brandishing a firearm capable of being concealed upon a person in a public place. If convicted, he faces a sentence ranging from 90 days up to one year in jail. Powers is scheduled to be arraigned Sept. 24, 2010, at the West Justice Center in Westminster. The time and Department are to be determined.
At approximately 9:15 p.m. on July 7, 2010, Powers is accused of being at Turc’s Bar in Sunset Beach having drinks with his cousin. The defendant is accused of taking out a knife and stabbing it into the bar in front of him. Victim Kimberly D., who did not know the defendant, was sitting next to him at the bar.
A bartender took the knife and told the defendant that he could not have a knife at the bar. When the bartender walked away, Powers is accused of taking a firearm from his pocket and putting in on the bar with the barrel pointing at Kimberly D. The frightened victim asked Powers to put the firearm away, but he is accused of leaving it on the bar.
The victim told the bartender, who contacted the Orange County Sheriff’s Department (OCSD). Powers was contacted by OCSD as he left the bar and released at the scene pending further investigation.
Senior Deputy District Attorney Rebecca Olivieri of the Special Prosecutions Unit is prosecuting this case.
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