Feature your business, services, products, events & news. Submit Website.
Breaking Top Featured Content:
Street racers accused of going 160 mph on OC toll roads charged with felonies
Three YouTube personalities and two other men face felony charges on suspicion of arranging and taking part in street races last year that reached speeds of up to 160 mph on some of Orange County’s toll roads.
Prosecutors filed multiple counts of conspiracy to engage in speed contest Friday, Jan. 22, against Rushdan Mohammad Abdallah, 26 of Lake Forest, Sean Lozai Stuart, 36, of Irvine, Saeid Assim Lachin, 27, of Fullerton, along with La Verne residents Aaron Hamed Waseeq, 25, and Daniel Joaquin Rodriguez, 21, Orange County District Attorney’s officials and Irvine Police said in a news release. They were also accused of misdemeanor counts of reckless driving and speeding infractions.
The charges followed a six-month investigation into street racing on the 241 and the 261 toll roads beginning last January, officials said.
An attorney representing Abdallah did not immediately reply to a request for comment. It was not immediately clear from court documents if the anyone had been assigned to defend the other four accused of conspiring with him.
Authorities allege the defendants planned and took part in numerous street races between Jan. 31, 2020 and May 30, 2020 that were filmed and then published to YouTube channels belonging to Abdallah, Waseeq and Roriguez. Abdallah’s account boasts hundreds of thousands of followers tuning in to posts that garner millions of views, Orange County prosecutors officials said. Some of those feature the defendant challenging his subscribers to race him.
“Orange County roads are not raceways designed to accommodate illegal street races of speeds reaching 160 mph,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a statement. “Street racing is irresponsible, it’s dangerous, and it shows a complete disregard for the lives of everyone involved.”
Abdallah previously had been arrested on suspicion of evading police during a pursuit and resisting arrest in November, prosecutors said. He had been free on bail at the time the illegal street races on the toll roads were planned and filmed.
He faces more than 8 years behind bars if convicted as charged. The other four defendants could face more than three years in state prison if they are found guilty on all counts levied against them.
Irvine police arrested the defendants Tuesday, Jan. 26, and impounded their vehicles following a 6-month investigation. All five were free on bail as of Thursday evening.