Local News in Brief : La Mesa

A former San Dieguito High School wrestler and football player was ordered Tuesday to perform 200 hours of community service and pay $1,000 in restitution for his role in a series of North County beatings by seven San Dieguito teen-age athletes.

The 17-year-old juvenile, now attending Grossmont High School in La Mesa, had previously pleaded no contest to one count of aiding and abetting the other co-defendants in the celebrated case and was sentenced by San Diego Superior Court Judge Norbert Ehrenfreund.

The youth was released to the custody of his mother but was ordered to return to court April 8 to determine whether he should be committed to the county’s juvenile ranch for 240 days.

Probation terms included promises that he would stay away from alcohol and drugs, have no contact with the co-defendants or the victims in the beatings, and that he submit to unannounced steroid testing every six months.

The youth’s public defender, Richard Potack, said he found the terms of the sentence appropriate for the case and said his client moved out of North County immediately after the incidents last spring to set his life in order.

The teen-ager is the fifth defendant to be sentenced for their roles in the beatings; two other juveniles were given similar orders of community service and restitution, and two adults were sentenced to time in the county jail.

Two other juveniles are awaiting sentencing.