2 Sepulveda Boys, 9, Plead Guilty to Burglary

Two 9-year-old Sepulveda boys arrested in a series of residential burglaries after one got stuck in a chimney pleaded guilty to burglary Tuesday and were returned to Sylmar Juvenile Hall to await sentencing.

The boys, who told police that they committed the burglaries to pay for video games, left the courtroom in tears after Sylmar Juvenile Court Commissioner Jack Gold refused to release them to the custody of family members.

Noting that the boys had been arrested twice within three days on suspicion of burglary, Gold said: “I don’t think the Juvenile Court would be doing its job sending them home without a complete examination by the Probation Department.”

Gold ordered a probation report on the boys and set sentencing for Feb. 11.

In an agreement worked out with the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office, the boy who got stuck in the chimney pleaded guilty to one count of burglary, and a second count of burglary was dropped. The other boy pleaded guilty to one count of burglary and one count of attempted burglary. The district attorney’s office dropped three other burglary counts the second boy faced.

Dressed in jackets, pants and tennis shoes, the boys calmly listened as Deputy Dist. Atty. Marguerite McKinney explained the charges and elicited guilty pleas from them.

“You know it’s wrong to steal, don’t you?” McKinney asked both boys.

“Yes, ma’am,” they replied quietly.

The boys, who are friends and fourth-grade classmates at Plummer Elementary School, are believed by police to have stolen cash, clothing and other items in seven residential break-ins in their Sepulveda neighborhood from Dec. 19 to Jan. 14.

On the latter date, firefighters drilled a hole in the chimney of a home to extricate one boy after his friend called a police emergency line. The boys had also been arrested Jan. 11 on suspicion of stealing $500 from a Sepulveda home Dec. 20.

McKinney argued that the boys should not return to their families but should remain in separate foster homes. To release them to family members would be “sending them back out into a community where there may be potential victims,” she said.

The boy who got stuck in the chimney could face up to six years of confinement and the other boy could face a six-year, eight-month sentence, McKinney said.