LOS ANGELES– A Florida woman accused of driving cross-country to fire a rifle at the home of Rihanna and A$AP Rocky, crashing into a trailer the famous couple was in and a daycare containing their children has been indicted by a grand jury on 14 felonies, including attempted murder.
The indictment against 36-year-old Ivanna Lisette Ortiz of Orlando was announced by a judge on Wednesday.
Ortiz, who appeared in court wearing yellow prison garb, spoke only to his attorney, who pleaded not guilty. The judge later ordered him held on $2.6 million bail.
The move came a day after another judge ruled Ortiz was mentally competent to stand trial. The secret grand jury hearings were held because the woman was undergoing months of psychiatric evaluation and because the case, which had appeared to have been stalled possibly permanently, was now quickly resuming trial.
“This is a person who wanted to kill Rihanna,” Deputy District Attorney Alexander Bott said outside court. “Everyone else was collateral damage.”
Ortiz was previously charged with the attempted murder of Rihanna and more than a dozen other felonies in March and pleaded not guilty. No one was injured, but the bullets destroyed the Airstream trailer the singing superstar and A$AP Rocky were in at the time. The gunshots also hit the wall of the nursery where his three young children were with their nanny.
The grand jury indictment supersedes the original charges. And secret trials allow prosecutors to bypass the preliminary hearing process in California, where evidence must be made public to see whether a case has merit.
The indictment also charges Ortiz with 10 counts of assault with an offensive weapon and three counts of shooting into an inhabited dwelling or camper. He could face life imprisonment if convicted on all charges.
Reports on the psychiatric evaluations that led to the trial being halted shortly after it began were sealed, and details of his mental state were not publicly discussed. Prosecutors did not indicate any connection between Rihanna and Ortiz, a longtime licensed speech pathologist with no prior criminal record, or say anything about a motive.
Authorities allege he drove a Tesla from Orlando to Rihanna and her rapper partner A$AP Rocky’s Beverly Hills-area property on March 8, pointed an AR-15-style rifle out the window and fired at least 20 shots into the property and a neighboring home.
Investigators found bullet holes in the trailer and in the exterior wall of the nursery on the second floor of the home where the children and nanny were located. Rihanna’s mother and several employees were also at home.
Investigators said Ortiz told them after his arrest later that day: “I wasn’t attempting murder.”
Nine-time Grammy Award winner Rihanna has 14 No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including “We Found Love,” “Work,” “Umbrella” and “Disturbia.”