SIMI VALLEY : Man Pleads Guilty to Bludgeoning Boy

A Simi Valley gang member arrested in the bludgeoning of a 15-year-old boy as a pay back for the fatal shooting of a fellow gang member pleaded guilty Thursday to assault.

The guilty plea brings to a quick end the prosecution of Chalermpol Kaewdee, who was arrested April 20 after assaulting the boy.

Kaewdee, 18, told authorities that the attack was in retaliation for the April 1 slaying of Kaewdee’s fellow gang member, Armando Rodriguez, who was shot by a passing bicyclist on 1st Street.

The man charged with that crime is Victor Ramirez, who police say belongs to the same gang as the 15-year-old boy who was attacked with a baseball bat.

Kaewdee faces four years in prison.

Also Thursday, a judge held a preliminary hearing for two other Simi Valley gang members arrested on suspicion of possessing deadly weapons on the same day Kaewdee was arrested. The two defendants belong to the same gang as Ramirez, authorities said.

Ventura County Municipal Judge John E. Dobroth ordered Genaro Garcia, 19, to stand trial on charges of carrying a three-inch metal rod.

But Dobroth ruled that prosecutors lacked sufficient evidence to bring Armando Gonzalez, 20, to trial for allegedly possessing an aluminum baseball bat.

Police arrested the two men near Sitka Avenue and Royal Street after being called to break up a disturbance at Apollo Continuation High School, Officer Alan D. Thompson testified.