Long Beach Teen In Halloween Beating Case Arrested Again

A 15-year-old defendant in the Halloween beatings of three women was arrested again, a day after prosecutors offered a plea deal in the highly publicized case.

The youth was one of two 15-year-old boys awaiting trial in the beating case involving the attack on three white women by a group of black youths.

The Jordan High student was arrested Tuesday night and booked for investigation of felony robbery after he and a group of friends allegedly stole a young woman’s cellular phone, Lt. Ty Hatfield said.

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The defendant in the Halloween beatings case was not the young man suspected of taking the phone, investigators said.

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Deputy District Attorney Andrea Bouas said it was too early to say if the new charge will have an impact on the plea offer. On Monday, prosecutors offered him and a co-defendant a plea deal that would guarantee them a sentence of three months in a probation camp in exchange for a guilty plea to one count of felony assault with a hate crime and personal infliction enhancement.

The two 15-year-olds awaiting trial were allegedly among a group of youths who taunted the three victims, a 21-year-old and two 19-year-olds, with racial slurs while pelting them with fruit, pumpkins and newspapers and finally beating the young women to the ground using their fists, feet and a skateboard.

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