Driver Held in Cypress Crash Was Fugitive

CYPRESS — Investigators found cocaine in the clothing of a 35-year-old man suspected of driving under the influence of drugs when he collided with another motorist and her two young children, police said Monday.

The children, ages 4 and 6, remained in critical condition Monday, and both drivers were hospitalized with internal injuries.

Investigators said they found a gram of cocaine inside the pants worn by Steven Wayne Arndt of Cypress and a crack pipe in his car, Police Sgt. David Birozy said. The drugs have a street value of $50, Birozy said.

Arndt, an artist, had pleaded guilty in three previous drug-related cases and was a fugitive at the time of the crash, court records show.

He was arrested Saturday night after he allegedly broadsided a Ford Aerostar carrying Cypress resident Vicki Schwartz, 45, and her children, Ryan, 6, and Natalie, 4.

Schwartz was in stable condition Monday at Western Medical Center-Santa Ana with rib fractures and other internal injuries. Her children were at Long Beach Memorial Hospital with severe head injuries. Ryan was showing signs of improvement, Birozy said, but Natalie’s condition was unchanged.

Arndt, who was in stable condition at Western Medical Center, was arrested on suspicion of drug possession and driving under the influence of drugs.

Toxicology test results have not been completed, but police suspect Arndt was high on methamphetamine or cocaine, Birozy said.

Arndt pleaded guilty to drug-related charges in 1990, 1994 and 1995.

In 1990, he was sentenced to two years in prison for possession of narcotics for sale, according to court records.

In 1994, he was found in possession of narcotics. His probation was revoked and he was ordered to enroll in a drug treatment program, court records show.

The following year, he was sentenced to a year in County Jail and three years’ probation for being in possession of a controlled substance, court documents indicate, but the sentence was suspended pending his completion of a drug rehabilitation program. Arndt failed to complete the treatment program and has been listed as a fugitive since February, court records show.

The crash occurred at 6:56 p.m. Saturday at Moody Street and Orange Avenue.

Witnesses told authorities that Arndt was weaving through traffic at 70 mph to 90 mph in his Ford Thunderbird. Birozy said Arndt was heading south on Moody Street when he apparently ran a red light at Orange Avenue and smashed into Schwartz’s van.

Arndt is being held in lieu of $10,000 bail.