Radio host is acquitted of threats against wife
Popular Spanish-language radio host Renan Almendarez Coello, known as “El Cucuy,” was acquitted by a court commissioner Monday of a misdemeanor charge of making a criminal threat.
The charge stemmed from a domestic violence call at Almendarez’s house in Northridge on New Year’s Day.
Los Angeles police arrived at the home to find only a housekeeper on the premises, prosecutors said. The housekeeper and Almendarez’s adult son later told police that the husband and wife had been fighting, and when the son tried to intervene, Almendarez allegedly stabbed him with a steak knife.
Assistant City Atty. Lara Bloomquist said the bloody knife was recovered from the trash with only Almendarez’s fingerprints on it. Almendarez’s wife returned to the house in her pajamas shortly after police arrived. The KLAX-FM (97.9) radio host turned himself in to police two days after the incident.
His wife did not testify in court against him, ignoring a subpoena, Bloomquist said. A police officer who called Almendarez from the house said Almendarez threatened his life over the phone. But the officer said he was not frightened by the threat, which Bloomquist said weakened the case.
Almendarez also had been charged with eight misdemeanors, including assault with a deadly weapon, battery and vandalism, all of which were dismissed by the judge.
Almendarez’s attorney, Eugene Wellington Matthews, could not be reached for comment.
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