LOS ANGELES (AP) - A co-founder of the frozen yogurt chain Pinkberry was sentenced Friday to seven years in prison for beating a homeless man with a tire iron in Los Angeles.
Young Lee, 49, was sentenced to the maximum term for the June 2011 attack near a Hollywood freeway off-ramp.
Authorities said Lee confronted Daniel Bolding as the transient was panhandling at the Vermont Avenue exit near U.S. 101.
Lee claimed Bolding flashed a sexually-themed tattoo to several people in Lee’s car, including his fiancee.
Lee drove away but returned and attacked Bolding, who was struck twice in the head and suffered a broken arm before witnesses stopped the assault, prosecutors said.
The 44-year-old Bolding testified at trial that he was begging from drivers when his shirt rode up, revealing the tattoo, which showed a stick-figure couple having sex.
In November, jurors convicted Lee of assault with a deadly weapon, with a special allegation that the attack caused great bodily injury.
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.
Lee is no longer affiliated with the chain.
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