Man charged for Pacific Highway crash

[the_yellow_dart]

http://edition.cnn.com/2006/LAW/11/07/ferr...h.ap/index.html

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- A Swedish video game entrepreneur who wrecked a rare Ferrari by smashing it into a Malibu power pole at 162 mph was sentenced to three years in prison Tuesday after he pleaded no contest to embezzling two other fancy cars and illegally possessing a gun.

Bo Stefan M. Eriksson, 44, entered the pleas four days after a jury deadlocked in his trial, closing a case that gained international notoriety after the spectacular Pacific Coast Highway crash.

Eriksson entered the pleas to two felony charges of embezzlement with the special allegation that the fraud exceeded $500,000. He also pleaded no contest to being a felon in possession of a firearm -- a .357-magnum handgun found in a search of his Bel-Air mansion in March.

He spent five years in a Swedish prison in the 1990s for assault, extortion and other crimes.

"It was a fair resolution," prosecutor Tamara Hall said after the hearing.

"There was a meeting of the minds. That's why there's a settlement," said Alec Rose, one of Eriksson's attorneys.

Two other counts of grand theft auto were dismissed.

Eriksson previously pleaded no contest to a drunk driving charge in connection with the February 21 crash that split in two a rare Ferrari Enzo valued at $1.5 million.

Jim Parkman, Eriksson's lead attorney, said Eriksson was concerned about "the cost and the energy" of a second trial.

The beefy, blond former video game firm executive could have faced more than 11 years in prison had he been convicted. Instead, he could be out of prison in a year because of time served and good behavior, Parkman said. Eriksson has been in jail since his April arrest.

"He wanted to move on with his life. He feels like he could get out and be successful again," Parkman said in a telephone interview after the hearing.

Prosecutors said Eriksson will face deportation after he completes his sentence and will not be allowed to return to the U.S.

His mansion, valued at up to $5.2 million, was seized and will be sold to help pay any restitution and fines, prosecutors said.

Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

[Intrepidation]

I remember this, what a waste of a good car.

[Sixty8panther]

Wow... there is so much more to this story than just a

wrecked Super-Fiat on the PCH.

I remember this, what a waste of a good car.

213370[/snapback]

I'd wreck all the Enzos ever made, and all the F50s and F40s

just to bring back one 1931 Cadillac V16 Dual Cowl Phaeton

or a 30s Marmon V16, or even the Norseman cocept car...