Community Corner

UPDATE: Former Baseball Star Lenny Dykstra Charged With 25 Counts

Dykstra is jailed in lieu of $500,000 bail. A bail-review hearing is set for Friday.

Updates with details from court appearance, Dykstra taken into custody. Bail review hearing is set for Friday, arraignment on June 16.

Former Major League Baseball star Lenny Dykstra was charged Monday with 25 criminal counts for allegedly trying to lease cars using phony business and credit information, City News Service reported.

His arraignment was scheduled Monday in the San Fernando Superior Court on the new charges, which include 23 felony counts. A bail-review hearing was set for Friday. Dykstra was jailed in lieu of $500,000 bail.

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Dykstra, 48, of Encino, is charged along with his accountant, Robert Hymers, 27, and a friend, Christopher Gavanis, 30, on allegations that they tried to lease high-end vehicles from several area dealerships by providing false information. They claimed credit through a phony business called Home Free Systems, according to City News Service.

The three allegedly drove off with cars by providing false information, while leases were not approved at two other dealerships. According to the Los Angeles County district attorney's office, Dykstra and Hymers allegedly provided contact information of one man—who had not authorized his name to be used—who they claimed was a co-signer.

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The former New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies outfielder was charged in U.S. District Court in April with bankruptcy fraud for allegedly selling or destroying $400,000 in property from his Ventura County mansion. He was held in lieu of $150,000 bail for nearly a week until actor Charlie Sheen of the payment.

When Los Angeles police detectives served a search warrant at Dykstra’s Encino home in April, they allegedly found cocaine and Ecstasy, along with the synthetic human growth hormone Somatropin, according to the district attorney's office.

Dykstra is charged with eight counts of filing false financial statements, five counts of attempted grand theft auto, four counts of identity theft and three counts each of grand theft auto and possession of a controlled substance. All of those charges are felonies.

He also is charged with one misdemeanor count each of possession of a controlled substance without a prescription and unauthorized possession of a syringe.

If convicted, he faces up to 12 years in state prison, according to the district attorney's office.

Hymers is charged with 17 felony counts, including grand theft auto and identity theft, while Gavanis is charged with six felony counts, including grand theft auto and false financial statements.

City News Service contributed to this report.


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