Trial Ordered in Border Heists : Courts: Judge decrees that a 17-year-old war games enthusiast should be tried as an adult on charges of robbing illegal migrants along the border.

Jason Joel MacAllister, the 17-year-old South Bay war games enthusiast who staunchly denied a nationally televised report accusing him and others of rounding up illegal aliens, was ordered Thursday to stand trial as an adult in connection with robberies of migrants along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Juvenile Court Judge Runston G. Maino ordered MacAllister to be tried as an adult after a 2 1/2-hour hearing that featured a courtroom viewing of the controversial television news segment that first shed public light on the Metal Militia, the teen-age paramilitary group once headed by MacAllister as its “general.” The militia consisted of students from Mar Vista and Southwest high schools, police have said.

The television segment, which aired Feb. 24 and was entitled “Human Prey,” was introduced as evidence at the behest of Geoff Allard, the deputy San Diego county district attorney prosecuting the case, and over the objections of defense attorney Leif F. Tessem, who contended that it was misleading.

The prosecution maintained that MacAllister’s activities and comments, as depicted on the program, were relevant to the proceedings--and, indeed, foreshadowed the crime.

The fast-paced tape, which was produced by Fox Broadcasting’s now-defunct “The Reporters” news-tabloid program, featured sensational footage of MacAllister and other youths appearing to hunt illegal migrants while prowling the dangerous border terrain in camouflage garb.

After it was aired, MacAllister and other youths contended that the group never actually rounded up migrants, and that the producers staged scenes or coaxed them into action. Fox officials said the program was authentic.

The ensuing furor sparked an investigation by San Diego Police, who attacked the credibility of the program but later acknowledged that teen-agers playing war games did encounter and harass migrants in the border area at least once last December. (No charges were filed or arrests made in connection with the December incident because victims could not be contacted, according to the San Diego County district attorney’s office.)

MacAllister, a lanky, curly-haired military buff who is himself half Latino, will face 11 counts of robbery and attempted robbery along with three adult males--also residents of San Diego County--who have already been ordered to stand trial in the adult system. All four suspects have denied the allegations.

MacAllister’s motive, according to a psychologist who examined the youth on behalf of his defense, was to make money to buy camouflage clothing and perhaps to participate in adult war games, which often feature guns that fire paint-filled pellets.

MacAllister, who was being held at Juvenile Hall in lieu of $60,000 bail, longed to join the Armed Forces and lived an active fantasy life in which he envisioned himself as a “natural warrior,” according to testimony by Wistar H. MacLaren, the San Diego psychologist hired by the defense.

In the psychologist’s view, MacAllister was a disturbed youth from a broken family, son of a Latina mother and a father who “saw Hispanics as wetbacks on welfare.”

The much-discussed television program, according to testimony by the psychologist, became a crucial turning point for young MacAllister. Afterward, he was harassed by Latino friends and classmates and eventually expelled from high school. Meantime, Metal Militia, the paramilitary group that gave focus to his directionless life, was disbanded.

“What happened subsequently,” said the psychologist, the only witness to take the stand on Thursday, “was a kind of deterioration of his life, a deterioration of his social life, his emotional life and his fantasy life.”

In late May, MacAllister joined Job Corps, a federally funded employment-training program, where he became a “security cadet,” assisting in security procedures and studying culinary arts. He and the three other suspects in the robberies were living at the Job Corps dormitory in Imperial Beach when the crimes occurred, authorities said.

While he performed well for Job Corps, the psychologist noted that MacAllister missed “the excitement, the thrill, the camaraderie of war games.”

In ordering MacAllister tried as an adult, Judge Maino cited the severity of the alleged crime, the degree of premeditation needed to commit the robberies, and the apparent leadership role of MacAllister, who was allegedly a principal organizer in the robbery even though he was the youngest of the four alleged border bandits.

The four could face up to 18 years in prison if convicted in the adult system, authorities said. Juvenile authorities could only have held MacAllister until age 25, officials said. MacAllister turns 18 later this month.

The robberies occurred in three separate incidents along a rugged border strip during a 10-minute period on the evening of Aug. 30, authorities said. Four attackers robbed eight migrants and tried to rob three others, officials said. No one was injured, although one woman victim has testified that she was hit with a blunt object during the assault, according to the district attorney’s office.

The other suspects charged in connection with the robberies are William E. Barnes, 24; Donald T. Young, 22, and Ruben A. Saucedo, 20.