Glendale Man Pleads Guilty to Vehicular Manslaughter

A Glendale man accused of killing a father and his daughter in a traffic collision and fleeing the scene pleaded guilty this week to manslaughter.

Jorge Fidel Ayala, 21, pleaded guilty Monday in Pasadena Superior Court to two counts of vehicular manslaughter and one count of felony hit and run in the Jan. 3 accident. He will be sentenced July 27 and faces up to eight years and two months in prison, Deputy Dist. Atty. Tia B. Graves said.

Police said Ayala’s car ran a red light on Elk Avenue while traveling about 70 m.p.h. and collided with a car carrying Karapet Khajehtorians, 57, and his daughter, Janice, 22. The father died at the scene and the daughter died at a Glendale hospital. Police said Ayala fled from his wrecked car.

Ayala’s father, Juan Rodolfo Ayala, 54, pleaded guilty in April to being an accessory after the fact. The elder Ayala initially told police that his son’s car had been stolen the night of the accident. He was sentenced to 180 days in jail, but received credit for time served and was released on five years probation.