Mexican singer, TV star will be extradited from California to South Carolina in assault case

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. – Regional Mexican music singer and television star Larry Hernandez will be extradited to South Carolina where he has been accused of kidnapping and assault during a business dispute, a judge ruled Wednesday.

Hernandez, 38, consented to extradition during a court hearing in San Bernardino, California, and will remain jailed without bail until authorities transport him to South Carolina. The singer and star of the Spanish-language reality series “Larrymania” appeared in court with his hands and legs shackled.

Police in Newberry, South Carolina, say Hernandez is wanted on kidnapping and assault charges filed after a businessman accused the singer of punching him and pushing him into a wall during a dispute over payment for a concert last month.

Hernandez was upset that he was only being paid $14,000 for a concert and demanded $30,000 before attacking the man, according to a police report. The man told police that Hernandez and two other people wrapped him in plastic wrap and beat him in a parking lot before unwrapping him and leading him into a hotel room where they continued to hit him.

Hernandez was arrested on a fugitive warrant Friday at Ontario International Airport, where he was waiting to board a flight to Colorado.

His attorneys, Anthony R. Lopez and Manuel H. Miller, declined comment after the hearing.

“In a recent interview with the Telemundo program “Al Rojo Vivo”, Hernandez disregarded the accusations saying that in his line of work, “There’s a lot of people who don’t care about anything and want to ruin your image … Those are just lies and, well, time will tell”.

About the same time, he told The Associated Press, “I believe that to continue talking about this is giving more opportunities to people who make no sense, to continue answering questions would be giving merit to something worthless.”

His parents and fiancee attended Wednesday’s hearing, and Hernandez’s father said he remains proud of his son.

“He is not responsible for anything,” Lorenzo Hernandez said of the accusations against his son.

Larry Hernandez sings drug ballads known as “narco-corridos” and his latest release mentions the Mexican drug trafficker Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.

NBC Universo has aired “Larrymania” for four seasons and the show remains on the air in Mexico.

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AP Correspondent Berenice Bautista in Mexico City contributed to this report.

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