Guardian Angels Held in Assault : Investigation: The 5 are accused of kidnaping and beating a man they suspect of burglarizing their Hollywood offices.

Five members of the Guardian Angels were arrested Thursday in the alleged kidnap and assault of a would-be member whom they suspected of burglarizing their Hollywood offices, authorities said.

When Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies stopped a Volkswagen van at Imperial Highway and Firestone Boulevard in the Norwalk area early Thursday morning, they found the victim, Michael Hathaway, shirtless, with his head shaved and a handcuff dangling from his wrist.

Sheriff’s spokesman Bill Wehner said the 20-year-old San Diego transient, known as “Stormy,” had been beaten with a large metal flashlight and “KKK” had been scribbled on his back and a 12-inch Nazi swastika drawn on his chest with a marker pen.

Deputies arrested five other young men in the van.

They were identified as Verinder Samra, 21, of San Diego, regional coordinator of the Guardian Angels, a self-styled crime-fighting group; Sergio Terrazas, 21, head of the Hollywood chapter; Jason Charlie, 19; Brian Jacobsen, 18, and Kristoffer Underwood, 18.

The five were booked at the Norwalk sheriff’s station for investigation of false imprisonment, kidnaping and assault with a deadly weapon.

“They were trying to beat a confession out of me,” deputies quoted Hathaway as saying.

Investigators said Hathaway told them he had been kidnaped on a Hollywood street at about 1 a.m. Thursday and driven around for about three hours before deputies stopped the van.

At the Guardian Angel’s Hollywood office Thursday night, Weston Conwell, who identified himself as the organization’s Southwest director, described Hathaway as a would-be member who had failed to complete his training.

“He’s been tormenting us ever since,” Conwell said.

According to investigators, the Guardian Angels suspect Hathaway was responsible for a burglary of their Ivar Avenue headquarters Monday night, when someone broke in and stole two two-way radios, battery chargers and clothes worth about $2,000.

After hospital treatment for head, neck and rib injuries, Hathaway was turned over to Los Angeles police for questioning about the burglary. Hollywood Division Capt. Rick Dinse said later that “there just doesn’t seem to be enough evidence to book him.”