Crime & Safety

Brothers Get 60 Days For Punching 83-Year-Old Woman at Bus Stop

The men beat up the 90-pound woman for refusing to have dinner with them.

Two brothers were sentenced to three years of formal probation and 60 to 90 days in jail after pleading guilty Thursday to an apparently unprovoked attack on an 83-year-old woman at a Costa Mesa bus bench.

Paul Grigore Patrulescu, 30, and his brother Ciprian Patrulescu, 31, approached the 5-foot-1, 90-pound victim Aug. 18 as she was sitting at a bus stop on Harbor Boulevard, according to Costa Mesa police Lt. Paul Dondero. They asked her to have dinner with them at a restaurant. She kept telling them to leave her alone, angering the men, who began to hit her, Dondero said.

A witness driving by saw one of the men punch the victim in the face, and stopped and confronted them, prompting the attackers to run, Dondero said.

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Paul Patrulescu was sentenced to 90 days behind bars and Ciprian Patrulescu was sentenced to 60 days. Both were also ordered to pay an unknown amount of restitution and to enroll in an anger management program.

The brothers, both of Costa Mesa, pleaded guilty to inflicting injury on an elder adult and misdemeanor battery, according to court records.

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Attempts to reach prosecutor Heidi Garrel and attorneys Jeffrey Tatch, who represents Ciprian, and Leonard Matsuk, who presents Paul, were not immediately successful.

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