Pinkberry Yogurt Founder Allegedly Beat Up a Homeless Man With a Tire Iron
What does Young Lee do when he’s not running the Pinkberry frozen yogurt empire he co-founded back in 2005? Apparently, he’s beating up a homeless man with a tire iron because the wanderer had a sexually explicit tattoo that Lee found offensive.
LA Times reports that the incident took place back in June 2011 on an off-ramp of the Hollywood Freeway (Vermont Avenue). LAPD maintains that the c0-founder was stopped at a light when he was approached by a man seeking money. After an exchange of words, Lee and another man in the car chased down the homeless man beat him down with a tire iron — according to police Capt. Paul Vernon.
Lee’s arraignment is set for February 8th on charges of assault with a deadly weapon. No word on what the tattoo read or why it irked Lee to the point of the accusations being laid forth.
The 47-year old entrepreneur’s froyo chain has seen immense growth since its founding in 2005. Now the chain boasts over 100 stores, mostly located in Southern California, along with 14 locations in New York, with many locations existing in other states and dotted in various locales across the globe.
While Young Lee (featured picture above, on the right) and Shelly Hwang (featured picture above, on the left) founded the first location back in 2005, Lee is currently not listed on the website’s Executive Bios page.
[UPDATE: 01/17/2012]
Pinkberry just released the following statement, available on their website as well, regarding the issue:
Many of you have read the news today about Mr. Young Lee. Here’s our company statement in response to the arrest.
Company Statement in Response to Young Lee Arrest
Mr. Young Lee has no involvement with Pinkberry, our partners or our more than 170 stores world-wide. Pinkberry ended its ties with Mr. Lee formally on May 1, 2010. He has no influence or input into the company in any way, and the parties have not been in communication with one another since Mr. Lee’s exit. While it would be inappropriate for us to speculate on the allegations in question, we can say without hesitation that Pinkberry values the communities we serve and stands against acts of violence of any kind, especially those involving the most vulnerable among us.
