A man named in a 16-count felony complaint for allegedly assaulting five people on the weekend, making criminal threats and discharging a semi-automatic firearm, was on probation at the time of his arrest for having stolen a part of the car in which actor Paul Walker’s was killed.
Jameson Brooks Witty, 21, of Canyon Country, was arrested Saturday by deputies of the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station at a house on Elk Ridge Road in Castaic.
He was later charged by prosecutors with several offenses including: domestic battery, five counts each of assault with a semiautomatic handgun and making criminal threats, and with one count of residential burglary with a person present and while armed with a handgun.
A check with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office Friday revealed Witty – at the time of his arrest Saturday – was on probation for a 2014 offense involving the theft of property taken from the fatal crash that claimed the life of Paul Walker, best known for his role in the Fast & Furious movie franchise.
In August 2014, Witty entered an open plea to the court of no contest to one misdemeanor count each of grand theft of personal property, destroying evidence and resisting, obstructing and delaying a peace officer, Ricardo Santiago, spokesman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office, said in 2014.
On Friday, Santiago told The Signal: “Witty was put on summary probation for three years in August 2014.”
Witty was one of two men who stole pieces of the Porsche in which actor Paul Walker and Santa Clarita Valley businessman Roger Rodas were killed in November 2013.
The two men entered no contest pleas in early August 2014 and agreed to serve three months in jail.
Witty was arrested in December 2013 several days after an Instagram user “jamesonwitty” posted two photos showing what appears to be a red car part on the image-sharing social media network.
Those pictures include a caption that reads, in part, “Piece of Paul Walker’s car, took it off a tow truck at a stop light.”
The same Instagram user account also includes a picture with the caption “Paying respects to Paul Walker, so sad to see a childhood idol pass like this. Truly a breathtaking moment. …”
Walker, star of the “Fast and Furious” film franchise, and Rodas died Nov. 30, 2013, when the Porsche being driven by Rodas hit a light pole and tree and caught fire in the Rye Canyon Business Park.
Witty is scheduled to appear in court on his more recent charges on June 8.
He remains in custody at the Men’s Central Jail with bail set at $870,000.
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on Twitter @jamesarthurholt
