Riverside doctor accused of sexually assaulting patients arrested again, arraigned

City News Service

Special to the Valley News

RIVERSIDE - A physician and operator of a Riverside skincare clinic accused of sexually assaulting four female patients pleaded not guilty today to multiple felony offenses and was released from jail after posting a $1 million bond.

Dr. Sam Sannoufi, 52, of Newport Beach was arrested for the second time in less than two weeks last Friday and booked into the Robert Presley Jail, where he initially was held without bail.

Sannoufi is charged with five counts of sexual battery of an unconscious person, three counts of sexual penetration of an unconscious person and one count of oral copulation of an unconscious person.

He was arraigned before Riverside County Superior Court Judge Mark Johnson, who scheduled a felony settlement conference for Aug. 29 at the Riverside Hall of Justice.

Sannoufi’s attorney, Paul Grech, submitted a motion arguing for a bail reduction based on his client’s lack of prior criminal history, and the judge agreed, removing the defendant’s no-bail hold and setting his surety at $1 million, which Sannoufi promptly provided, securing his release from custody.

He was arrested for the first time on June 27 in connection with an earlier investigation involving a woman who had visited his Timeless Skincare Laser Clinic Primary Care at 6900 Brockton Ave.

“The investigation continued, and additional victims (came) forward with similar allegations they were sexually assaulted by Dr. Sannoufi,’’ Riverside police spokesman Officer Ryan Railsback said last week.

One victim, identified in court documents only as “C.F.,’’ alleged she was assaulted in 2017. Another woman, “S.A.,’’ was allegedly assaulted in January and March 2020, as well as last June. The third victim, “J.V.,’’ alleged she was assaulted in March and June 2021. The last victim, “K.T.,’’ was allegedly assaulted on June 12, according to the criminal complaint.

Railsback said the latter victim contacted the agency’s Sexual Assault-Child Abuse Unit soon afterward, alleging that she was assaulted during a consultation, Railsback said SACA detectives gathered sufficient evidence to obtain an arrest warrant, and Sannoufi was summoned to the department’s Orange Street station, where he was taken into custody without incident last month. He posted a $1 million bond and was released from jail a couple of hours later.

Sannoufi has no documented prior misdemeanor or felony convictions in Riverside County.

According to the Medical Board of California, the defendant has been a licensed doctor in the state since March 2009. He’s a graduate of the Ukrainian State Medical University in Kiev and has no listed disciplinary actions, administrative citations or malpractice suits on file with regulators in California.

Dr. Sam Sannoufi, 52, of Newport Beach was arrested for the second time for sexual assault on a patient. Valley News/Courtesy photo

Man who killed boys in rage over doorbell prank sentenced

City News Service

Special to the Valley News

A Corona-area man who chased down and rammed a car occupied by six teenagers, causing the vehicle to crash and kill half of the boys, was sentenced Friday, July 14, to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

A Riverside jury in April convicted 45-year-old Anurag Chandra of three counts each of murder and attempted murder, along with special circumstance allegations of taking multiple lives and sentenceenhancing great bodily injury allegations, for the January 2020 attack.

“The lives of countless families will never be the same because of one man’s anger, callousness and outrageous conduct, and I am grateful to Judge Valerie Navarro for imposing the maximum sentence in this case,’’ District Attorney Mike Hestrin said Friday.

During the sentencing hearing at the Riverside Hall of Justice, Craig Hawkins, father of Daniel Hawkins, who was among the teens killed, read a letter to the court, saying “Every day, we sense the absence of this young man.

The hole in our hearts and lives from the taking of our son’s life is staggering.’’

In addition to Dan Hawkins, Chandra killed Jacob Ivascu and Drake Ruiz on Jan. 19, 2020. Ivascu was from Riverside; the other two were from Corona. All of the boys who died were 16.

A 13-year-old boy, 14-year-old boy and 18-year-old man, who was driving the car that was struck, suffered moderate to major injuries and were treated at Inland Valley Medical Center in Wildomar. They have since recovered to varying degrees.

According to prosecutors and California Highway Patrol investigators, the boys were having a Sunday night sleepover at one of their homes and decided to try a “doorbell ditch’’ prank in the neighborhood, on Modjeska Summit Road in the Temescal Valley, just south of Corona.

Shortly after 10 p.m., five of them piled into a Toyota Prius parked on Modjeska Summit Road, while another went to Chandra’s residence and rang the bell several times, investigators said. The youth then ran to the Prius, which raced away from the location.

According to a District Attorney’s Office statement, Chandra “chased after the Prius in his 2019 Infinity Q50.’’

“As Chandra pursued the victims, he rear-ended the Prius and sideswiped the vehicle until they were forced to stop,’’ according to the agency. “The Prius made a Uturn to escape; however, Chandra continued his pursuit.’’

Investigators said that the defendant bore down on the Prius at 99 mph along Temescal Canyon Road, approaching Squaw Mountain Road. Chandra rammed the Prius, causing it to spin out of control and slam into a tree on the side of the road.

Family members told reporters that the boys were fleeing out of fear and were trying to avoid a confrontation with Chandra. There was no prior dispute between him and the teens, according to prosecutors.

Witnesses followed Chandra back to his residence and alerted CHP officers, who arrested him roughly four hours after the deadly collision.

Chandra had no documented prior felony convictions, but at the time of his arrest, he did have an unresolved misdemeanor case for battery on his wife and child endangerment. Those charges were folded into the murder case and disposed with it but did not factor into his sentence.

Man who caused Elsinore resident’s fentanyl-induced death headed to prison

A man who sold a deadly dose of fentanyl to a 26-year- old Lake

Elsinore resident was bound for state prison Monday, July 17, to serve an 11-year sentence.

Everardo Martinez Rodriguez, 31, of Lake Elsinore pleaded guilty in May to voluntary manslaughter and sentence-enhancing allegations of targeting a vulnerable victim and taking advantage of a position of trust.

In exchange for his admissions, the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office dropped a seconddegree murder charge against Rodriguez.

During a hearing Friday at the Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta, Superior Court Judge John Monterosso certified the terms of the plea agreement and imposed the sentence stipulated by the prosecution and defense.

The defendant was arrested last year following a sheriff’s investigation into the death of Gavin Battle.

According to Sgt. Ryan Marcuse, on Jan. 5, 2021, deputies and paramedics were called to the victim’s residence in the 29000 block of Central Avenue, near Conrad Avenue, to investigate reports of a possible drug-related cardiac arrest.

Battle was found dead at the location, Marcuse said, adding that an autopsy revealed “fentanyl poisoning” as the cause of death, prompting an investigation that ultimately pointed to Rodriguez as the dealer who supplied an undisclosed quantity of the synthetic opioid.

An arrest warrant was obtained and served by deputies on March 4, 2022 at the defendant’s home

FATALITY from page A-1 between slower vehicles.

He was mainly going between traffic in the No. 3 and 4 lanes, riding the Harley at 15 mph.

“The motorcyclist attempted to pass between two big rigs,’’ according to a CHP statement.

“For an unknown reason, he laid his motorcycle down, and he was ejected from his motorcycle. He went into the No. 3 lane, and he was run over by the rear trailer wheels of the big rig.’’ on Limited Avenue, where he was taken into custody without a struggle.

The trucker apparently never realized that he had rolled over the motorcyclist and continued forward, with witnesses behind him unable to get his attention, the CHP said.

Rodriguez had a misdemeanor vandalism conviction from 2012, but no felony convictions, according to court records.

Since February 2021, more than two dozen people countywide have been charged in connection with fentanyl poisonings.

According to public safety officials, there were 503 confirmed fentanyl-related fatalities countywide last year, compared to just under 400 in 2021, a 200-fold increase from 2016, when there were only two.

Fentanyl is manufactured in overseas labs, principally in China, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. The agency said it’s smuggled across the U.S.-Mexico border by cartels. The drug is 80-100 times more potent than morphine and can be mixed into any number of street narcotics and prescription drugs, without a user knowing what he or she is consuming. Ingestion of only two milligrams can be fatal.

Fentanyl is now the leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 18 and 45 years old, statistics show.

Riverside County Fire Department paramedics reached the location about 20 minutes later and pronounced the victim dead at the scene.

CHP officers attempted to find the tractor-trailer but never did. One witness said the semi had the words “Pan American Cargo’’ painted on the trailer, which was white. No license plate number was recorded.

Northbound I-15 was partially shut down for over two hours while a preliminary investigation was conducted.

Anyone with information about the 18-wheeler or its driver was asked to contact the Temecula CHP office at 951-506-2000.