Burglary count added against man charged with stalking Halle Berry
Richard Anthony Franco
LOS ANGELES, Calif.—A man already charged with stalking Halle Berry was hit with an additional criminal count today for allegedly breaking into a guest house at the actress’ residence.
Richard Anthony Franco, 27, of Commerce, was charged with first-degree residential burglary for the alleged July 10 break-in. Franco, who pleaded not guilty to the new charge, had previously been charged with one felony count of stalking for allegedly showing up at Berry’s Hollywood Hills home between July 9 and July 11.
He was arrested there July 11 after neighbors reported the presence of a possible burglar.
At Franco’s initial court appearance July 13, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Upinder S. Kalra granted a protective order barring Franco from coming within 500 yards of the Oscar-winning actress—identified in the criminal complaint as “Halle B.”—and her home or contacting her by electronic, written or telephonic methods.
Deputy District Attorney Wendy Segall told the judge Franco was seen on Berry’s property three days in a row, and that Berry identified him as the man she had seen.
“She is in fear for her safety,” the prosecutor said, noting that Franco was seen on a videotape hiding in bushes on one occasion.
On July 12, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Carol Boas Goodson issued a temporary stay-away order, directing Franco to stay 100 yards away from Berry and her daughter.
“Richard Franco is a stranger to me and I have no desire to have any contact with him,” Berry wrote in a court declaration. “He has terrorized me and my family in three consecutive incidents over the last three days.
“... This person has jeopardized not only my own personal safety, but also the safety and well-being of my family,” she wrote, adding that she was “extremely frightened of him and what he might do to me or those I love.”
Franco is on probation after pleading no contest in June to a misdemeanor battery count, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Hollywood movies and high-fashion runways may seem a world away from a discussion about feeding the hungry, but Oscar-winning actress Halle Berry is joining designer Michael Kors in his work with the United Nations World Food Programme to fight hunger.
In an interview with CNN’s Alina Cho, the pregnant actress said that being a mother inspired her to act on behalf of hungry children because hunger often starts in the womb.
Halle Berry is talking about becoming a mother for the second time at 46.
“I feel fantastic. This has been the biggest surprise of my life to tell you the truth,” said Berry in an interview with CNN’s Alina Cho. In the interview, Berry spoke about her work with designer Michael Kors and the U.N. World Food Programme to fight hunger.
The Academy Award-winning actress and fiance Olivier Martinez are expecting their first child together.
Actress Halle Berry and her fiance, French actor Olivier Martinez, are expecting a child, Berry’s representative told CNN on Friday.
Berry has a daughter, Nahla, from an earlier relationship with Gabriel Aubry.
Berry and Aubry have engaged in a long battle over custody of the child, culminating in a driveway brawl between Aubry and Martinez. The parents later reached a legal agreement, details of which are not known.
Academy Award winner Halle Berry’s latest flick “The Call” hits the silver screen on Friday. I wasn’t invited to screen the movie—imagine that!—but, like the rest of America, I have seen the trailers and they look as if it may be a real thriller.
In next weekend’s thriller “The Call,” Halle Berry plays a 911 operator who fights to rescue a young woman from a vicious abductor.
As it turns out, the Oscar winner revealed to CNN that she had to make an emergency call herself during a terrifying home invasion.
