SIMI VALLEY : 4 Boys Arrested in Harassment Case

Four teen-agers have been arrested on suspicion of making annoying phone calls and vandalizing the property of a Simi Valley family over a two-month period, police said Friday.

The four 16-year-old boys made full confessions to harassing a family of four between Nov. 11 and Dec. 31, police said. The teen-agers could be placed on probation, made to pay restitution or ordered to do community work, Simi Valley Police Detective Tony Anzilotti said.

Police originally believed that the calls and vandalism at the family’s house in the 2600 block of Valencia Court were religious hate crimes because they had anti-Semitic overtones, police said.

Acts of vandalism included gluing a bagel to the front door, uprooting the bricks from the front walkway and leaving toilet paper strewn through the yard. One night about 2 a.m., the front door of the family’s house was kicked open. A note that mentioned Christmas was left for the family, Anzilotti said.

Some of the two dozen calls made during the time period could have been interpreted as anti-Semitic, Anzilotti said. Most were vulgar or the caller hung up, he said.

Police identified the teen-agers through the telephone calls and discovered that two of them went to school with the family’s 17-year-old son and that the acts were directed against him. Anzilotti said he did not believe the acts were religious hate crimes.

“They were just some vandalism acts basically directed at the 17-year-old son, who is a classmate,” Anzilotti said.