New Charges Filed Against Member of ‘Spur Posse’ : Crime: Youth faces two counts of forcibly molesting a 13-year-old girl in 1989, when he was 14. Alleged victim came forward after initial wave of publicity, police say.

Armed with evidence that came to light only after a blitz of nationwide publicity, prosecutors Tuesday filed two new felony sexual assault charges in the Lakewood High School “Spur Posse” case--this time involving an alleged incident four years ago.

The filing accuses a member of the group, whose members kept score of their sexual conquests, of forcibly molesting a 13-year-old girl in 1989, when he was 14.

The victim in the attack, which allegedly occurred on a junior high school campus, came forward April 5, touching off a new investigation, said Detective Cathy Renner of the Los Angeles County sheriff’s Juvenile Investigations Bureau. The inquiry turned up written documentation of threats made to the girl, as well as witnesses to her emotional distress after the assault, Renner said.

“We believe we have a case we can prove beyond a reasonable doubt,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. James Hickey, who filed the charges at Downey’s Los Padrinos Juvenile Court.

Kris Belman, now 18, was booked and released Tuesday pending an arraignment set for mid-June on two counts of forcible child molestation, authorities said. The identity of the girl, who is now 17, was not released.

Belman was among nine teen-agers arrested during the initial police roundup of Spur Posse members in March. But prosecutors declined to file charges against him then and he was released.

Of the 17 sex-related Spur Posse cases presented to the district attorney’s office in March and April, 15 were rejected. One teen-ager, who pleaded guilty, has since been sent to a juvenile camp, and another faces a single felony charge.

“One of the major differences (this time) is that we have documentation that supports the allegations,” Renner said. “No one witnessed the actual assault. However, (the girl) immediately went to an adult and reported the incident. And her emotional and physical demeanor were witnessed immediately after the assault.”

Renner, who said the girl could not come forward earlier for complex personal reasons, noted that the statute of limitations allows charges to be filed up to six years after such an assault.

But the delay drew criticism from Dana Belman, 20, a founder of the Spur Posse, who said his brother denied touching the girl.

“They’re saying the girl was scared to come forward because she was threatened,” Dana Belman said. “(But) four years . . . that’s disgusting. Why are they making a big deal out of it now and not back then, when it should have been solved? Why wouldn’t they have taken care of it four years ago?”

Posse member Jeff Howard, who has not been named in the scandal, accused law enforcement officials of harassing the group. He said of Kris Belman: “Supposedly, all he did was just pull up a girl’s skirt in eighth grade. He didn’t do nothing wrong. People are just jumping on the bandwagon.”

Several parents of teen-age girls, who had denounced the district attorney’s office for rejecting the earlier cases, expressed approval of the new charges.