A 48-year-old man was sentenced today to 22 years in state prison for assaulting a boy in a Long Beach restaurant last year, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office announced.

At today's court appearance, Herbert Laurence Harris pleaded no contest to two felony counts in case NA103694: child abuse and kidnapping.

The defendant also admitted he was previously convicted of making criminal threats and battery by gassing in 2014.

Deputy District Attorney Kelly Kelley of the Victim Impact Program, who prosecuted the case, said on March 3, 2016, Harris followed a 13-year-old boy into a restaurant bathroom and attacked him.

The defendant put the boy into a chokehold and started to drag him into a bathroom stall when a customer walked into the bathroom and intervened to stop the assault, the prosecutor added.

Soon after, police were called and Harris was arrested. The case was investigated by the Long Beach Police Department.

Los Angeles County District Attorney / case NA103694 / March 10, 2017