Pinkberry Co-Founder Arrested for Alleged Assault of Homeless Man

A founder of the Pinkberry frozen yogurt chain was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport Monday for allegedly attacking a homeless man along the Hollywood Freeway in June. 

Young Lee, 47, was apprehended at about 2 p.m. Monday after arriving from Korea. He was arrested on a felony warrant for aggravated assault “related to an evening attack on a homeless beggar…on June 15, 2011,” according to the Los Angeles Police Department. 

Lee and a companion got out of the car Lee was driving on Vermont Avenue near the Hollywood Freeway offramp to confront the homeless man because Lee thought the man had disrespected him by exposing a sexually explicit tattoo, according to the District Attorney's Office. 

Lee allegedly used a tire iron to beat the homeless man, who suffered a broken left forearm and several cuts to his head, according to the District Attorney's Office. 

Witnesses were able to describe the Range Rover the men were in and its license plate, which led to Lee, according to LAPD Lt. Paul Vernon. Police did not identify Lee’s alleged accomplice.

“Witnesses picked out Lee from a photo display and a judge issued a warrant for his arrest,” Vernon said. “When federal databases alerted detectives that Lee was inbound on a flight from his native Korea on Jan. 16, detectives from [the LAPD’s fugitive] task force and the FBI met Lee at the airport and arrested him.” 

Lee was released Tuesday on $60,000 bail and is scheduled to be arraigned Feb. 6 in Los Angeles Superior Court on one felony count of assault with a deadly weapon. 

Convicted in 2001 for felony possession of a controlled substance and a misdemeanor for carrying a loaded firearm, Lee faces up to seven years in state prison if convicted on the aggravated assault charge, according to the District Attorney's Office. 

A boxer-turned-architect, Lee co-founded Pinkberry with Shelly Hwang. Its first store opened in West Hollywood in 2005 and the low-calorie yogurt chain quickly grew. There are two locations in Beverly Hills: and .   

This article was compiled with information from City News Service.

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