3 Alleged Skinheads Admit Attack

Three alleged members of a skinhead organization pleaded guilty Tuesday to assaulting a man and interfering with his civil rights.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Luis Aragon said the Oct. 21 incident involved an attack upon an 18-year-old man from an island in the Pacific Ocean who “looks Hispanic,” and the motive stemmed from racial prejudice.

Michael Mann, 21, Michael DiPaolo, 22, and Steven Kuntz, 20, all entered their guilty pleas before San Diego Superior Court Judge William Howatt Jr., one day before their case was to be assigned for trial.

Because Mann has a prior conviction, he could be sentenced to a maximum of six years in state prison and a $10,000 fine. The other two could be given maximum four-year terms.

Sentencing was set for March 28. Mann and DiPaolo remain in County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail, but Kuntz had previously posted a $50,000 bail bond.

The victim, Joel Baerga, suffered a concussion, a fractured jaw, facial cuts and bruises in the incident outside a Mission Beach taco stand.

The defendants reportedly yelled white supremacy slogans and kicked the victim with their steel-toed boots.

Baerga identified all three men as his attackers at a Dec. 11 preliminary hearing.

Aragon said Mann’s prior conviction stemmed from a May, 1988, battery involving two Vietnamese-Americans.