Mission Viejo : Flashing Suspect Held Following Fatal Incident
A 21-year-old Mission Viejo man was booked into Orange County Jail Friday on suspicion of indecent exposure following an incident in which an elderly man died while trying to help capture the suspect.
Police Lt. Robert Rivas said Richard Howard Rhodes was arrested at his home Friday on a warrant issued after witnesses to the incident identified him.
Rivas said a nude man confronted a young woman Monday after she got off a bus at Marguerite Parkway and Via Florecer in Mission Viejo. Her screams attracted the attention of several people, including Anthony Leone, 71, who lived nearby.
Leone grabbed a baseball bat and apparently was trying to point out the suspect, who by then was fleeing in the neighborhood’s wooded greenbelt area, Rivas said.
“He got away from the people who were chasing him,” Rivas said, “and when they came back to where it all started, they found Leone down on the sidewalk. He was dead on arrival (at Mission Community Hospital), apparently of heart problems.”
Rivas said investigation of the case is continuing. Rhodes was being held on $10,000 bail.
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