A real estate agent is fighting charges of illegally taking down ballot proposition signs and threatening a man with a knife in Buena Park, according to authorities.
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Victor Chevalier Perrin of Lee and Perrin Real Estate in Buena Park was allegedly taking pro-Measure A signs down from a chain-link fence illegally on March 13 when he was confronted by a man who'd been driving by, according to the Orange County District Attorney's office (OCDA)
Measure A, which will be voted on Buena Park residents in an all-mail ballots election May 19, would prevent the City Council from approving “construction of any nonrecreational buildings or structures on lands designated as parks or open space”-or converting such lands to other uses–unless a majority of residents authorize it first.
It's a reaction to a proposed condominium development on privately owned recreation land held by Los Coyotes Country Club.
The motorist tried to take a cell-phone photo of Perrin removing campaign signs, but the 50-year-old, licensed real estate agent allegedly walked up to the vehicle, grabbed the phone, threw it over the fence and into a vacant lot, according to the OCDA.
As the man got out of his vehicle, Perrin allegedly whipped out a knife and threatened the fellow before driving away with the signs, prosecutors say.
After the Buena Park Police Department was contacted and investigated, Perrin was arrested on Tuesday, April 7. He now faces one felony count of dissuading a witness by force or threat, one felony count of brandishing a deadly weapon, one misdemeanor count of petty theft, one misdemeanor count of receiving stolen property, and a sentencing enhancement for the personal use of a deadly weapon.
If convicted, the Buena Park resident faces up to five years in state prison. Currently out of custody $30,000 bail, Perrin is scheduled to be arraigned at a later date.
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OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.