Teen-Agers Douse Valencia Boy With Gas, Take Candy

A 12-year-old Valencia boy was robbed of his Halloween candy by several teen-agers who squirted gasoline on him, struck a match and threatened to set him afire, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said Wednesday.

There have been no arrests in the Monday night assault on the boy, Sgt. Greg Palmieri said.

Palmieri said the youth and a friend had been making trick-or-treat visits to homes in the 25800 block of Tournament Road when they were confronted on the street by seven teen-age boys.

The teen-agers told the two younger boys to hand over the candy they had collected, Palmieri said. The boys refused and one ran away, Palmieri said. Two of the teen-agers squirted gasoline from plastic bottles onto the remaining boy’s head and upper body, he said.

“One of them lit a match, and they threatened to ignite him if he didn’t give up his candy,” Palmieri said.

Boy Fled Robbers

The boy became very frightened, threw his bag of candy at the teen-agers and ran away, Palmieri said. When he got home, his mother called authorities.

Deputies found two squeeze bottles containing a small amount of gasoline near the scene of the attack, but none of the teen-agers were found, Palmieri said. The victim, who did not know his attackers, on Wednesday began looking through high school and junior high yearbooks from area schools in an effort to identify them, Palmieri said.

If the teen-agers are arrested, Palmieri said, they could be charged with assault with a caustic liquid, a felony. He said investigators do not consider the incident a Halloween prank.

“I’ve been in the department 16 years, and it’s the first time I ever heard of somebody using gasoline to get candy from a trick-or-treater,” Palmieri said.