BRIEFLY IN PUBLIC SAFETY

Skateboarder blamed for car accident

A Newport Beach boy who had reportedly been drinking was named at fault for a car accident on Irvine Avenue and Margaret Drive on Thursday night, police said.

The 15-year-old boy had apparently been hanging out with friends for his birthday before the accident, which happened just after 8 p.m. Thursday.

A car headed north on Irvine Avenue reportedly hit the boy when he “came flying out” into the crosswalk on a skateboard, Newport Beach Police Sgt. Evan Sailor said Friday. From what police could tell, the car was driving the speed limit.

Despite being in a crosswalk, the boy was found at fault because pedestrians are required to yield to traffic — even in a crosswalk — if the car is close enough to be a hazard, Sailor said.

The driver of the car reported no damage to his car, and the boy complained of minor pain to his shin.

The boy was taken to Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian where he submitted to an alcohol screening, which showed he had been drinking recently, Sailor said.

Business owner pleads guilty to tax evasion

Newport Tux and Uniform owner Robert Frank Hanna pleaded guilty Friday to federal tax evasion for about $356,000 in outstanding taxes owed from 1994 through 2004, according to the United States Attorney’s Office.

Hanna, 57, of Trabuco Canyon, told the United States Chief District Judge in Santa Ana that during those years he used money from his business accounts for personal use.

He admitted that he bartered with customers to hide income, including about $29,000 in uniforms to the Laguna Surf and Sand Hotel.

The trade was reportedly done to pay for his wedding there, according to the prosecutors.

In the plea agreement, Hanna admitted that he overstated his expenses and inventory purchases in an offer in compromise he made with the IRS in November 2005 when he attempted to settle the outstanding debt, the prosecutors said.

He is scheduled for sentencing Sept. 17 and faces up to five years in federal prison and a $100,000 fine, according to prosecutors.

Newport Beach police seek hotel robbery suspect

Police on Friday were asking for the public’s help in finding a man who reportedly robbed a clerk at the Bay Shores Peninsula Inn of about $350 late Thursday.

Police reported that at about 11:40 p.m. Thursday a man walked into the hotel at 1800 West Balboa Blvd. carrying a blue steel semiautomatic gun and demanded money and the night clerk’s wallet.

The man who reportedly robbed the hotel was described as 6-foot-1, 160 pounds, dressed in all black and wearing a flesh-colored facial mask that could have been a stocking, Sgt. Evan Sailor said.

The clerk told police he believed the man to be white according to the way he spoke, Sailor said.

The suspect was last seen leaving out the rear door of the hotel on foot toward West Bay Street, Sailor said.

Anyone with information about the suspect should contact the Newport Beach Police Department at (800) 50-NBPD. Messages can be left anonymously.

Rabid bat found at Corona del Mar High

Newport Beach police and the Orange County Health Care Agency are urging people who live near Corona del Mar High School to make sure their pets have been vaccinated for rabies after a bat found Friday at the school tested positive for rabies, according to police.

An injured California brown bat found Friday near the high school gym was euthanized by Newport Beach Animal Control and tested at the Orange County Health Care Agency epidemiology laboratory.

The agency reported that the bat tested positive for rabies and requested students’ parents ask their children if they touched the bat. None of the students questioned said they had.

Residents in the area should not leave pet food outside, make sure all windows and doors have screens, and report all stray animals and animal bites to police, according to authorities. Call the Police Department if you see any bats.

If any students had contact with the bat, parents should call the health agency at (714) 834-8180 or the Newport Beach Police Department at (949) 644-3717.