D.A. files new charges against boat buyer...

D.A. files new charges against boat buyer

Prosecutors on Tuesday dropped money laundering charges but filed

grand theft charges against a man who bought a yacht from a Newport

Beach couple just before they went missing.

Skylar DeLeon, a 25-year-old Long Beach resident, was facing three

counts of possession of money earned through large-scale drug sales

and three counts of money laundering in connection with the purchase

of the Well Deserved, a 55-foot cabin cruiser moored in Newport

Harbor. Retired couple Tom and Jackie Hawks were living on the boat

until its sale Nov. 15 and have not been heard from since.

Newport Beach Police arrested DeLeon on Dec. 17, the day after

they found the Hawkses’ car in Ensenada, Mexico.

The new charge has to do with unpaid repairs on another boat in

April, Senior Deputy Dist. Atty. Matt Murphy said.

DeLeon has a prior burglary conviction, according to court

documents. He was an actor on the “Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers”

television show, his attorney said.

Neither prosecutors nor police have publicly connected DeLeon to

the couple’s disappearance.

The $400,000 cash DeLeon said he paid for the boat has not turned

up in any of the Hawkses’ bank accounts, and none of their accounts

have shown any activity since their disappearance.

-- Marisa O’Neil