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Transient charged with attacking actress Pauley Perrette

FILE - In this Saturday, Nov. 7, 2015 file photo, actress Pauley Perrette poses at the Los Angeles LGBT Center's 46th Anniversary Gala Vanguard Awards at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza, in Los Angeles. Los Angeles prosecutors on Monday, Nov. 16, 2015, charged David Merck, a 45-year-old transient, with felony false imprisonment by violence and making a criminal threat, after he was arrested last week on suspicion of attacking Perrette in Hollywood and threatening to kill her. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File) FILE - In this Saturday, Nov. 7, 2015 file photo, actress Pauley Perrette poses at the Los Angeles LGBT Center's 46th Anniversary Gala Vanguard Awards at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza, in Los Angeles. Los Angeles prosecutors on Monday, Nov. 16, 2015, charged David Merck, a 45-year-old transient, with felony false imprisonment by violence and making a criminal threat, after he was arrested last week on suspicion of attacking Perrette in Hollywood and threatening to kill her. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)

By Associated Press November 16, 2015 1 min read

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Los Angeles prosecutors are charging a transient who they say attacked and threatened to kill television actress Pauley Perrette.

Prosecutors on Monday charged 45-year-old David Merck with false imprisonment by violence and making a criminal threat against the “NCIS” star Thursday.

Merck was arrested shortly after the attack in Hollywood.

If convicted, Merck faces up to four years in state prison. He is scheduled to be arraigned Monday. Jail records do not indicate whether he has an attorney.

Perrette described the attack on Twitter last week, saying a man repeatedly punched her and threatened to kill her outside her Hollywood home around 5 p.m. Thursday. She said the attack left her shaken and traumatized.