Juan-Carlos Cruz

Who is Juan-Carlos Cruz?

Juan-Carlos Cruz is a celebrity chef and the former host of Calorie Commando and Weighing In on the Food Network. Cruz lost 43 pounds on the Discovery Health Channel show Discovery Health Body Challenge, which encouraged him to change directions from being a pastry chef to do low-calorie cooking.

Cruz graduated in 1993 from the California Culinary Academy. In 1994 he started working at the Stanford Park Hotel as a pastry chef. In 1996, he started as pastry sous-chef at the Hotel Bel Air. While at the Bel Air he created pastries for celebrities such as Jack Nicholson, Oprah Winfrey and Julia Roberts.

In 2001, he started the website Pastrydude.com. The site is no longer active and the domain was sold at auction.

On Thursday, May 13, 2010, he was arrested at Cheviot Hills Park in Los Angeles, for having allegedly solicited three homeless persons at the Third Street Promenade to murder his wife, Jennifer Campbell. Cruz was initially held on $5 million bail; however, the bail was reduced to $2 million at the arraignment.

On Tuesday, October 26, 2010, Cruz entered into a plea agreement pursuant to which he pled "no contest" to a charge of soliciting murder, and the charge of attempted murder was dropped. While it was reported that the plea agreement proposes a 9-year sentence, the sentencing hearing was set to take place on Monday, December 13, 2010.