Boy Pleads Guilty as an Accomplice in Gang Rape

A 14-year-old boy pleaded guilty Wednesday to acting as an accomplice in the gang rape of an inebriated, unconscious teenage girl who was attacked during a daytime ditch party.

The boy’s plea was not part of a deal, prosecutors said. Deputy Dist. Atty. Dan Feldstern declined to state whether the boy has agreed to cooperate with authorities and testify against other defendants.

The boy was sentenced Wednesday by Los Angeles County Superior Court Commissioner Jack Gold to a maximum three years in custody. Under the original allegations, which were dropped, he could have received up to four years in custody.

The hearing at Sylmar Juvenile Court was closed to the public.

Prosecutors declined to identify the boy.

“He admitted his part in criminal activities. He will hopefully benefit from time served in a juvenile camp,” Feldstern said.

The boy was one of about 15 students from Birmingham High School who played hooky Dec. 1 to attend a party at the home of one of the teenagers, whose parents were away at work.

After a 16-year-old girl passed out from drinking alcohol, she was raped by several teens, police said.

The unconscious girl, who was found in a bedroom with bruises, cuts and bite marks on her body, woke up hours later at a Woodland Hills hospital. She told authorities she did not remember what happened, but a medical exam showed she had been sexually assaulted.

She is undergoing counseling and is recovering from her physical and emotional trauma, said Det. Craig Rhudy, who supervises the major-assault crimes unit of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Van Nuys Division.

Altogether, three juveniles and an 18-year-old have been charged.

“We have one suspect outstanding who has not been identified at this point,” Rhudy said Wednesday.

The 14-year-old boy was originally charged with attempted rape of an unconscious person. The lesser punishment is for the crime to which he admitted, accessory to rape.

The boy decided to accept responsibility early, Feldstern said. “There was no quid pro quo, where in exchange for something he pleaded guilty,” the prosecutor said.

The boy will spend up to one year in juvenile camp and remain on supervisory probation until he is 21, Feldstern said. If he violates probation, he may be returned to custody to finish the remainder of his three-year maximum sentence.

Prosecutors are now seeking to try 16-year-old Alejandro Zamora and 17-year-old Jose Sanchez, who were charged with rape and sodomy of an unconscious person, as adults.

Nathaniel Sanchez, Jose’s 18-year-old brother, was charged with attempted rape of an unconscious person, also a felony.

The two juveniles are in custody, and Nathaniel Sanchez is being held in County Jail in lieu of $55,000 bail.

All three teens have pleaded not guilty. Nathaniel Sanchez faces a preliminary hearing in Van Nuys Superior Court on Jan. 3. His younger brother and Zamora are scheduled to appear at a hearing on Jan. 19 in Sylmar Juvenile Court, where a judge will determine whether they will be tried as adults.

The 14-year-old was not legally eligible to be tried as an adult because he is younger than 16 and the charge he faced was not as serious as those facing the other two juveniles, Feldstern said.

Most of the teens arrested were members of a tagging crew, Rhudy said.

The activities of tagging crews primarily center around graffiti vandalism, Rhudy said, unlike gangs, which are more territorial, turf-based and usually engage in more serious criminal behavior.

“They’re continuing to investigate others who were at that party,” Feldstern said. “When the investigation is completed, there could be more prosecutions.”