Who is the woman accusing Chris Brown of threatening her at gunpoint?
Singer Chris Brown was engaged in a bizarre standoff with Los Angeles authorities who had obtained a search warrant for the performer’s Tarzana home.
A day after the arrest of R&B singer Chris Brown on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, new details are emerging about the former pageant winner who says Brown pointed a gun at her head and caused her to flee the performer’s hilltop mansion in Tarzana.
The accusation by 25-year-old Baylee Curran triggered an hours-long standoff between Brown and Los Angeles police officers before investigators obtained a warrant to search Brown’s home for the reported weapon. Although police have yet to describe publicly what they found in that search, Brown was booked at Los Angeles Police Department headquarters downtown and then released on $250,000 bail.
Brown, through his attorney Mark Geragos, has denied any wrongdoing. The 27-year-old is scheduled to appear in court for arraignment on Sept. 20, according to jail records, although he has yet to be formally charged by the Los Angeles County district attorney.
The incident is the latest in a string of run-ins with the law for Brown and could carry heavy consequences if he is determined to be guilty.
After a 2009 attack on his then-girlfriend, singer Rihanna, Brown spent six years on probation after pleading guilty in the incident, and his probation was lifted in March 2015. The singer completed about 1,000 hours of community service. He was also ordered to attend anti-domestic-violence classes.
While the most recent case appears to be a ‘he-said-she-said scenario,’ Brown’s legal history could work against him, said Dmitry Gorin, a defense attorney and a former sex crimes prosecutor in Los Angeles.
“Brown’s prior criminal history hurts him. The D.A. will argue it shows a pattern of assault and battery against women,” Gorin said. “If Brown is convicted, the felony can also be used by the sentencing judge to justify imposing a harsher prison sentence.”
Brown’s accuser appears to have had her own run-in with the law, as she is one of two women wanted for questioning by police in a 2013 grand larceny report out of New York City, according to a spokesperson for the New York Police Department.
Police say two women entered the room of another friend and then got into a dispute. One of the two grabbed the victim’s purse from her hands, took out a wallet and fled.
Also on Wednesday, the Miss California Regional pageant organization released a statement regarding Curran, who was crowned Miss California Regional 2016 on April 1, but lost her title soon after, on July 5.
“She is not the current title holder,” said Joshua James, a spokesman for the Miss California Regional pageant. “There was some instances that occurred during the pageant and they were investigated and due to our investigation, we considered it would be in the best interest for the organization and the other contestants that we have her dethroned.”
Curran “has been asked numerous times” to return the crown and sash, which she has refused to do, according to the pageant organization.
Curran and her publicist did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday.
Los Angeles Times staff writer Joseph Serna contributed to this report.
Twitter: @brittny_mejia and @lacrimes
UPDATES:
2:35 p.m.: This article was updated with details about Chris Brown’s criminal history.
This article was originally published at 1:55 p.m.
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