Newport Beach man accused of waterboarding his wife is sentenced to 10 years in prison

A Newport Beach man accused of confining and waterboarding his 65-year-old wife pleaded guilty to felony domestic violence charges and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Richard David Schlosser II, 37, pleaded guilty Monday to six felony charges of criminal threats, false imprisonment, corporal injury of a spouse and assault with a deadly weapon and admitted to sentencing enhancement allegations of committing a crime while on bail.

Authorities said Schlosser held his wife of two months captive in the couple’s apartment for hours and beat and waterboarded her repeatedly Jan. 5 and 6.

Schlosser will receive credit in his sentence for time served in local jail since his arrest in January. He will be eligible for parole after seven years.

“I’m happy with the resolution,” said Orange County Senior Deputy District Attorney Mark Geller. “Ten years is fair.”

In exchange for pleading guilty to the six felony charges, a felony torture charge and a sentencing enhancement allegation of causing great bodily injury were dropped, the district attorney’s office said.

“It’s a long time in prison for someone who hasn’t been in prison before,” Geller said.

Officers responded to Schlosser’s apartment in the 2700 block of Newport Boulevard at 10:17 a.m. Jan. 6 after someone called police to ask them to check on a woman at the home, said Newport Beach police spokeswoman Jennifer Manzella.

Schlosser’s wife alleged in a request for a restraining order filed in Orange County Superior Court that he attacked her for six hours from late Jan. 5 to early Jan. 6. She said he punched her — leaving her with a black eye — kicked her, hit her with a candelabra and cut her with scissors.

The restraining-order request was dismissed after Schlosser’s wife did not appear at a hearing in February, court records show.

Police alleged in court documents that Schlosser also choked his wife and shoved a towel down her throat. She was hospitalized for her injuries, authorities said.

At the time of the incident, Schlosser was out of jail on $50,000 bail in connection with a separate domestic violence case in Riverside County from December 2016. In that case, he was accused of false imprisonment, inflicting corporal injury, assault with a deadly weapon and criminal threats against a woman in her 20s. He pleaded not guilty to felony charges, court records show.

Schlosser likely will stand trial in Riverside County, according to the Orange County and Riverside County district attorney’s offices.

julia.sclafani@latimes.com