Bryan Thomas Cruz pleaded not guilty Tuesday morning, Aug. 14 at the Airport Courthouse to more than a dozen charges stemming from an alleged crime spree in Pacific Palisades. Looking disheveled in yellow and blue prison garb, Cruz, 44, mumbled his plea to Judge Keith L. Schwartz.
Cruz did not post bail, which was set at $2,585,000.
Rich Schmitt/Staff Photographer
Schwartz ordered a medical review for Cruz, which is standard procedure for Los Angeles County sheriffs if the defendant has any physical or mental health needs.
Cruz is scheduled to appear next on Sept. 19 at the Airport Courthouse.
He faces four felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon; three counts of carjacking; two counts each of first-degree burglary, second-degree robbery, criminal threats and reckless driving causing injury; and one count each of kidnapping and false imprisonment by violence.
According to the criminal complaint, Cruz has prior convictions for burglary, robbery and forcible rape between 1989 and 1995.
According to Bill Sessa, public information officer with the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Cruz fully served consecutive and concurrent sentences in L.A., San Diego and Solano counties from July 1993 to January 2014.
Cruz allegedly broke into an apartment around 7:40 a.m. Monday, Aug. 11 in the 100 block of Marquez Place. He threatened an elderly woman with a box cutter and forced her to drive him toward the San Fernando Valley, police said.
The resident in her mid-80s told CBS2 News the man climbed onto her patio and came through the sliding glass door. Cruz allegedly began shouting profanities and physically held onto her when he got into her home.
Cruz then allegedly forced the woman to find him sweatpants for a disguise and used scissors to cut his hair in her bathroom sink. She was then forced to drive Cruz in her vehicle.
The elderly Palisadian said that Cruz kept telling her he was going kill her. Thinking she was going to die, the woman intentionally crashed her car into a construction vehicle near Palisades High School. She was not injured and Cruz escaped.
He allegedly carjacked another woman, a Pali High teacher, in one of the school parking lots. Cruz took off onto Sunset Blvd., hitting multiple vehicles before abandoning the car in Marquez Knolls, according to police.
He then allegedly broke into a home in the 16800 block of Sunset and forced another woman to hand over her car keys. Cruz headed toward Malibu where he ran into another car and was ultimately taken into custody.
A woman and her son were airlifted to local hospitals after being injured in the crash in Malibu, officials said.
Cruz faces a possible life sentence if convicted of all charges, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
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