Felon charged with carjacking a woman in Riverside and shoving a man into a closet – Press Enterprise

A parolee accused of carjacking a Riverside woman and holding her until she escaped and perpetrating a home-invasion robbery — when a senior citizen was beaten and stuffed into a closet — was charged on Wednesday, Jan. 25, with nearly a dozen felony offenses.

Ronald Rafeek Legardy Jr., 42, of San Bernardino was arrested last week.

Among the charges he now faces: two counts of kidnapping, three counts of making criminal threats and one count each of assault with a deadly weapon, carjacking and elder abuse.

Shortly before 1 p.m. Friday, Legardy allegedly confronted a motorist who had come to a stop along the 4200 block of Market Street in downtown, said Officer Ryan Railsback, a Riverside police spokesman.

The woman told police that the defendant allegedly leveled what appeared to be a handgun at her and climbed into her vehicle, forcing her to drive.

“After circling around the area, the victim was able to escape, and the suspect then drove off with the stolen car,” Railsback said.

She was not injured.

Less than an hour later, police dispatchers received reports of a man “knocking on doors in the 5900 block of Meadowbrook Lane,” the police spokesman said, with the suspect seen talking to an elderly man but “then both disappeared abruptly.”

Patrol officers were sent to the house and spoke with neighbors, who told them that the senior lived alone.

“(Officers) entered the house to discover the carjacking suspect inside and the elderly man beaten, shoved inside a closet and concealed underneath a pile of clothing,” he said.

The victim was taken to a hospital for “injuries to his upper body and head,” Railsback said, adding that the senior was released over the weekend.