NEWPORT BEACH : Man Pleads Innocent to Latest Charges
A Costa Mesa man who accompanied his 4-year-old daughter on a two-mile ocean swim pleaded innocent Monday to charges of vandalism and creating a disturbance with a neighbor.
Irv Krespi, 61, who is free on his own recognizance, is scheduled to appear Dec. 6 in Harbor Municipal Court for a pretrial hearing on the misdemeanor charges stemming from a Sept. 15 incident in which he reportedly tore the head off a stuffed toy belonging to his neighbor’s child.
Krespi, who says he was diagnosed with terminal cancer, and his daughter Ariel trained for months to make the Aug. 15 swim from Newport Pier to Balboa Pier. Krespi said he did it so she would have something to remember him by.
Hours after the swim, Krespi was arrested on charges of misdemeanor spousal abuse and resisting arrest stemming from an alleged fight with his estranged wife. On Sept. 15, he pleaded guilty and was subsequently sentenced to two years’ probation.
That same day, Krespi got into an argument with a neighbor as their children played outside their apartments, the neighbor alleged.
The neighbor accused Krespi of calling her obscene names and tearing the head off her child’s toy.
Krespi has said that he and the neighbor do not get along but declined to discuss the case.
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