3 Teenagers Say They Will Probably Take Plea Bargain in Stabbing

Three south Orange County teenagers accused of stabbing another youth at a high school party last summer said Tuesday they are likely to plead guilty to being gang members and participating in the assault that nearly killed a 16-year-old.

Prosecutors say that in exchange for the guilty pleas, they will recommend reduced jail sentences for the boys, who have adamantly denied being gang members since their arrest in August. The gang allegation, while not uncommon in Orange County’s more urban areas, shook the sprawling communities where the boys live. Many debated whether the teenagers, who have no criminal records, are in fact gang members, and some accused law enforcement officials of trumping up the charges. Others were caught off guard by allegations of gang activity in their neighborhoods.

The teenagers, 17-year-olds Steve Crader of Aliso Viejo and Kurtis Pinedo of Laguna Hills and 16-year-old Joshua Riazi of Dana Point, said Tuesday they have no choice but to plead guilty in order to receive more lenient sentences.

“We have to say we’re something we’re not, and plead guilty to something we don’t believe in, just to get less jail time for something that shouldn’t have gotten this far in the first place,” Crader said outside of court.

For Crader, the morning’s dry legal proceedings were capped by an emotional reunion. As he was walking out of Orange County Superior Court in Santa Ana, he spotted his father, whom he had not seen in years.

“Oh my God, it’s my dad!” he said, rushing into his father’s arms. “No way!”

Ken Crader, 34, of Chino Hills, said he learned about the charges his son faces in a story in Sunday’s Times. Crader said his blood ran cold when he read that his 17-year-old son was being asked to plead guilty to an assault charge--the same crime he himself was convicted of when he was 17.

“I had to be here,” Crader said. “I care about what happens to him, even if I haven’t been the best at showing it.”

Crader and his ex-wife, Yolanda Radig, said they hope their son will accept the plea agreement.

“They’re caught here,” Crader said. “They don’t have a choice, and I wouldn’t bank on the sympathies of the public when it comes to the word ‘gang.’ ”

The teenagers are being prosecuted as adults and face charges that could send them to prison for 15 years to life. Under the plea agreement, prosecutors will recommend a one-year jail sentence and allow the defendants to serve the time in a local jail.

The teenagers continue to insist that their group of friends, who go by the name of Slick 50’s, is a harmless club for boys who enjoy music and memorabilia from the 1950s.

The Aug. 11 incident occurred in a gated community in Aliso Viejo, where a group of teenagers from Aliso Niguel High School were having a party. Orange County sheriff’s deputies said the suspects, well known for their trademark cuffed pants, white T-shirts and slicked-back hair, attacked 16-year-old Galen Thorne of Aliso Viejo, cracking a beer bottle over his head and stabbing him three times.

If accepted Monday, the plea agreement bolsters sheriff’s deputies’ claims that the boys and their group meet the legal elements of a gang--even if they don’t fit the stereotype. They say the suspects are part of a new breed of suburban gangs that they have labeled “bully gangs,” because they often target individual victims and assault them as a group.

Two additional suspects, Jesse Grist, 17, of Laguna Niguel, and Josh Carlsen, 21, of Dana Point, were not offered the same agreement because prosecutors contend that they played a more active role in the attack. Carlsen, the only suspect with a criminal record, is expected to plead guilty in the hope of receiving a lesser sentence, but no formal arrangements have been made.

Jesse Grist, however, is likely to go to trial because he feels he has nothing to lose, said his mother, Janice Grist, 55.