Local News in Brief : 2 Guilty of Stealing Food

Two homeless teen-agers have been sentenced to three years’ probation and ordered to perform 80 hours of community service for breaking into two Granada Hills junior high schools and stealing food--including ice cream, milk and pizzas.

San Fernando Superior Court Judge Meredith Taylor also sentenced Mike Larkin, 19, and Mark Sarno, 18, to 46 days in jail, which they already have served since they were arrested April 7 in the cafeteria of Holmes Junior High School.

The teen-agers, who said they could not find work and were desperately hungry, were charged with five counts of burglary and could have received 5 years each in prison.

While living out of Sarno’s car, they said, they broke into Holmes and Patrick Henry junior high schools nine times over a two-month period and always did the dishes after scarfing down food from the schools’ refrigerators.

“What they got was fair because they didn’t steal anything, although they had the opportunity,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Craig Richman, the prosecutor in the case.

“They even cleaned up after themselves and put all their trash in the garbage.”