A 34-year old man was sentenced to nine years in state prison for crashing a car into a La Mirada gym after his membership was terminated, officials said Tuesday.
Sergio Reyes of Whittier was at the wheel of a car that came smashing through the gym’s window in the 12800 block of Valley View Avenue, narrowly missing an employee who was standing at the reception desk last March, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said.
Video showed the car stopped among exercise equipment in the middle of the debris-covered gym, which was open at the time of the crash.
That month, Reyes was involved in a dispute with gym personnel who terminated his gym membership over “alleged inappropriate behavior,” the DA’s office said, without elaborating on the allegations.
After crashing into the gym, the man fled the scene by getting into the passenger side of a waiting vehicle.
He was eventually found and arrested with the help of some witnesses who followed him, authorities said.
Reyes was facing multiple charges in connection with the crash, including one for attempted murder. But he entered a no contest plea to one count of assault with a deadly weapon, an automobile, and got the nine-year sentence as part of the negotiated plea, the District Attorney’s Office said.
