Felon charged with carjacking woman, beating and abducting senior

A parolee accused of carjacking a Riverside woman and holding her until she escaped, as well as perpetrating a home invasion robbery during which a senior was beaten and stuffed into a closet, was charged Wednesday with nearly a dozen felony offenses.

Ronald Rafeek Legardy Jr., 42, of San Bernardino, was arrested Jan. 20 following a Riverside Police Department investigation.

Legardy was charged with two counts of kidnapping, three counts of making criminal threats and one count each of assault with a deadly weapon, carjacking, elder abuse, false imprisonment of a dependent adult and burglary, with sentence-enhancing allegations of inflicting great bodily injury and using a weapon in the commission of a felony.

The defendant, who is being held without bail at the Smith Correctional Facility in Banning, was slated to make his initial court appearance Wednesday at the Riverside Hall of Justice.

According to Riverside police spokesman Officer Ryan Railsback, shortly before 1 p.m. on Jan. 20, Legardy allegedly confronted a woman who had come to a stop along the 4200 block of Market Street downtown.

The woman, whose identity was not released, later told police that the defendant allegedly leveled what appeared to be a handgun at her and climbed into her vehicle, forcing her to drive.

“After circling around the area, the victim was able to escape, and the suspect then drove off with the stolen car,” Railsback said.

The woman was not injured.

Less than an hour later, police dispatchers began receiving reports of a strange man “knocking on doors in the 5900 block of Meadowbrook Lane,” the police spokesman said. He said the suspect was seen talking to an elderly man, but “then both disappeared abruptly.”

Patrol officers were sent to the house and spoke with neighbors, who told them that the senior “lived alone, and there should not be anyone else inside the home,” according to Railsback.

“They entered the house to discover the carjacking suspect inside and the elderly man beaten, shoved inside a closet and concealed underneath a pile of clothing,” he said.

Legardy was taken into custody without incident at the property, and the victim was taken to Riverside Community Hospital, where he was treated for “injuries to his upper body and head,” Railsback said, adding that the senior was released from the hospital over the weekend.

The weapon used during the alleged carjacking was recovered inside the senior’s residence and was confirmed to be a pellet pistol resembling a Glock semiautomatic firearm, according to Railsback.

He said the vehicle taken during the alleged carjacking was located parked nearby.

Legardy is a multiconvicted felon who is on parole for a prior carjacking in San Bernardino County, according to court records. He has no documented prior felony convictions in Riverside County.

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