The man who acted aggressively toward and threatened to kill patrons at a Lake Forest hookah lounge that was predominantly filled with people of Persian descent has been sentenced to 60 days in jail.
Andrew Alan Carruthers, 29, of Lake Forest, got that sentence last week as part of a plea deal that had him copping to felony criminal threats, misdemeanor resisting and obstructing an officer and violation of civil rights with a sentencing enhancement for hate crime.
You’ll recall from our previous story that Carruthers walked into BluFig Hookah Lounge around 9 p.m. on Sept. 15 “and acted aggressively toward the patrons, who were mainly of Persian descent,” according to the Orange County District Attorney’s office (OCDA).
An employee asked Carruthers to leave, but he reentered the business multiple times, threatening to kill individuals, the OCDA says.
A lounge patron called 911, and when Orange County sheriff’s deputies arrived, Carruthers darted down Lake Forest Drive on foot before surrendering.
“The defendant had visible tattoos of symbols associated with white supremacy,” notes the OCDA.
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.