Sign vandals apprehended

Two juvenile vandals will pay the price for knocking over traffic signs in Calabasas.

In early August, the city of Calabasas reported that a motorist ran over eight traffic signs in the Thousand Oaks Boulevard and Parkmor Road area. After an investigation, Lost Hills Sheriff’s deputies found two suspects who admitted to the crime.

“We take this (type of crime) very seriously,” said Dep. Victor Paladino of the Lost Hills Sheriff’s Department. “The kids might not have known the gravity of how serious it was. They think they’re just knocking down some signs for fun. But what they don’t realize is that if you take a sign down—like a stop sign on a main intersection like they did. . . you might have a (motorist who) isn’t familiar with the area and doesn’t see the sign, and you have a recipe for disaster there with a major traffic collision.

“I had mentioned a case to (the suspects), and I can’t remember when it happened—it’s been about 10 years now…somewhere back in the Midwest—but some kids had taken out some stop signs and there was an accident and people were killed,” Paladino said. “I let (the suspects) know that if you take down stop signs, there’s a good chance there’s going to be an accident, and you’d be responsible for it.”

The two suspects, whose names were not released, must pay $3,266 for damages, according to Paladino, adding neither suspect had a criminal record. The suspects will go to Calabasas Teen Court, which handles teen matters through an educational court program.

Calabasas Teen Court, now in its eighth year, is for youths between 13 and 17 who commit misdemeanor crimes. The youth can have their cases heard by a jury of their peers, which decides the penalty.

The types of cases heard in the court include criminal mischief, shoplifting, possession of alcohol and other misdemeanors.

Teen Court gives teen offenders a chance to keep their criminal records clean, according to Calabasas City Councilmember James Bozajian, one of the founders of Teen Court and a Los Angeles County deputy district attorney.

“It gives the person who’s charged with an offense (the opportunity) to work off the offense without having it go on their record,” Bozajian said in a past interview.

Bozajian has often sat as a judge at Teen Court. He and others, including local judges and attorneys, volunteer to preside. The Teen Court judge is directly involved in the court proceedings.

Teen offenders have no defense attorneys in Teen Court, according to program officials. Teens admit their guilt and waive their rights as far as having an attorney present, officials said.

Teen Court hearings take place at 4:30 p.m. on the third Thursday of the month in the Calabasas City Council chambers at Calabasas City Hall, 26135 Mureau Road, Calabasas.

For more information about Teen Court, call Linda Gonder of Stefanie Qualls at (818) 880-6461.