5 Gang Members Admit to Beating Rival, 16, at High School

Five members of an east Ventura gang have admitted beating a 16-year-old rival gang member over the head with a chair during an attack earlier this month inside a Pacific High School classroom.

The male suspects, four 16-year-olds and a 17-year-old, each face four years in the California Youth Authority when they are sentenced in early April, prosecutors said Thursday.

In agreements reached Wednesday, the teens each admitted that they committed a single felony of assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury. The group also agreed to allow the sentencing judge to consider their gang affiliation in determining penalties.

Two of the suspects were charged with multiple crimes stemming from the March 2 beating and at least one other unrelated case, prosecutors said. Citing confidentiality laws, prosecutors declined to identify the teens or release details of the other crimes, except to say they did not involve students or schools.

But the Pacific High attack was just one of a series of recent violent incidents in or near schools in Ventura County. The most recent occurred March 9 when two students were stabbed at Rio Mesa High School in Oxnard.

And Feb. 25, a gang attack occurred aboard a Buena High School bus that had stopped at a traffic light.

The March 2 beating occurred at the start of a school day inside a Pacific High satellite classroom at the Ventura Boys & Girls Club at 1929 Johnson Drive. Pacific High is a continuation school for students with academic and discipline problems.

The victim, a 16-year-old suspected Oxnard gang member, suffered a 2-inch gash on his head when two classmates and five others attacked him during what authorities described as a retaliation beating for a fight between the rival gangs a few days earlier. One suspect suffered a broken hand.

The five teens remain in custody awaiting evaluations by probation officers, who will interview them and make sentencing recommendations. The teens have no prior history of school-related violence, prosecutors said.

“We didn’t plea-bargain the case at all. We told them they could plead to the most serious charge or go to trial,” said Ventura County Deputy Dist. Atty. Miles Weiss, supervisor of the Juvenile Prosecution Unit.

A sixth minor was charged in the case and was also expected to settle prior to trial. Deputy Dist. Atty. Rhonda Schmidt said Thursday she was researching whether to charge a seventh teen who was identified by witnesses at the scene.

“We treat gang crime very seriously and there has been a lot of focus on it by the community, school boards and the schools. It touches people and makes people concerned,” she said.

Jane Goldschmidt, executive director of the Boys & Girls Club, said Thursday that the chair beating prompted calls from parents. Although the incident did not directly affect club members, Goldschmidt said the fate of Pacific’s lease was debated. It was decided that a full-time security guard would be on duty during the continuation classes.

“I am very pleased the boys who have done this stepped up and admitted they took part in this,” Goldschmidt said.