Last Updated on January 19, 2023 by C-CAR
SANTA ANA >> Charges were filed Tuesday against four people accused in a dine-and-dash at an Anaheim-area restaurant that ended with a waitress getting run over in the parking lot as they drove off.
Rowshaid Cordell Pellum, 24, of Cerritos, was charged with aggravated assault and hit-and-run with injury, both felonies, and a misdemeanor count of defrauding an innkeeper. Co-defendants Santeea Munay Ralph, 23, Shyteice Lashay Miles, 19, and Markeisha Michelle Williams, 18, all of Long Beach, were each charged with a misdemeanor count of defrauding an innkeeper.
Pellum faces up to four years and eight months in prison if convicted, while the women would face up to six months in jail.
Pellum and Ralph were scheduled to be arraigned this afternoon. Arraignment for the other two defendants has yet to be scheduled.
The hit-and-run occurred at 6:22 p.m. Sunday at the Mexico Lindo restaurant in the 10900 block of Magnolia Street. The four patrons left without paying, prompting their 28-year-old server to follow them out to the parking lot to confront them, sheriff’s Lt. Jeff Hallock said.
As the suspects drove away in a black Volkswagen Jetta, the waitress was struck by the sedan and knocked down, he said.
Maria Uriostegui, a mother of two, was taken to an area hospital with what Hallock described as “minor to moderate” injuries.
Uriostegui told reporters after being released from the hospital that she had a feeling the group was going to walk out on their bill.
“When they got there, there was just something that — I just had a feeling that something was not going to work out at the end of them having lunch,” she said. “And I kept kind of a close eye on them because I just had that sense. And yes, they just walked out and I went to tell them, ‘I’m sorry you guys forgot to pay your bill.’ They, the four of them, turned around, looked at me, laughed and just kept walking to their car.”
She said she was hoping to jot down the license plate number, but the car had no plates.
About 1 a.m. Monday, deputies patrolling in the Stanton area saw a black Volkswagen sedan in the parking lot of a Motel 6 in the 7400 block of Katella Avenue, Hallock said.
“It was just great police work, a great observation on their part” to spot the Jetta, he said.
Deputies talked to the motel manager, and the residents connected to the Jetta matched the victim’s descriptions of the suspects, who were arrested without incident, Hallock said.
