Man Sentenced for Firing at Teens
A Rancho Palos Verdes man has been placed on three years’ probation after pleading no contest to a charge of firing a handgun into a carload of teen-agers on a scavenger hunt.
Torrance Superior Court Judge John Shook also ordered Carl Faulkner, a 44-year-contractor, to pay a $500 fine and to turn over his gun to authorities to be destroyed, according to Deputy Dist. Atty. Ron Geltz.
Faulkner was charged with shooting into an occupied vehicle last June after he allegedly fired one shot into a car carrying three Rolling Hills High School students, slightly injuring a 16-year-old boy.
The May 28 shooting occurred after the students had gone to the home of the school’s varsity baseball coach, Gary Poe, to take Poe’s license plate as a prank.
Poe, alerted by his daughter that someone was outside their house, aborted the prank, sheriff’s investigators said. As the youths sped off, Faulkner, a neighbor of Poe’s, fired a shot at the vehicle, investigators said. Faulkner’s home had recently been burglarized.
Even though Faulkner pleaded no contest to a felony charge, Shook reduced it to a misdemeanor, which carries less severe probation violation penalties, Geltz said.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
