Two beatings last year and a fight at a summer party prompt a local television network to investigate the MLO. No suspects have been named or charged in either beatings.
By Vicki Godal/Special to The Malibu Times
A major network television station will air an investigative report Monday evening on the MLO (Malibu Locals Only), a group that has been called a gang, which was first reported in the local high school newspaper, and later followed by The Malibu Times in a December article.
Producers at Fox 11 News contacted the Times in early January about a story the paper published regarding the MLO and a beating of a young man while at party in Malibu last spring. Another beating, again at party in Malibu, had taken place in the fall, as well as a couple being attacked while walking on the beach. MLO members reportedly committed the second beating, while it is unknown who attacked the couple on the beach.
The first attack in March occurred while the victim was leaving the party. He was attacked by a group of about 10 young men and was beaten about the head to unconsciousness. Doctors told the victim’s parents that he was beaten nearly to death. Due to the head injuries, the victim had short-term memory loss for months afterwards and has been in psychiatric therapy since the attack. A former honor student, the victim was accepted to several colleges, but currently has no plans to attend in the near future.
“I have to read the same thing over and over again to remember it, and even then sometimes I don’t,” said the victim. “It’s really frustrating because school used to be so easy for me.”
No attackers were ever named or charged, although the beating was witnessed by at least 20 people, mostly Malibu High School students. A reward was offered by the victim’s father in the Malibu High School newspaper, The Current, which first published the story about the beating. The article was co-authored by the newspaper’s editors in chief, David Bresler and Jaclyn Mohr.
Several Malibu High School students were contacted as potential witnesses to the beating. Those that called back refused to be named in this article and would speak only off the record.
Malibu High School principal Mike Matthews said the MLO has been around for years, but in the past, was not a violent group. “I’ve been here 11 years, and only in the last two years have the tagging and graffiti become prevalent,” said Matthews. “I think people are using the name MLO as an excuse when it’s more about individual characters than the power of the MLO.”
The second beating that took place in the fall of 2003, happened at a party in a home on Carbon Mesa Drive.
According to the Sheriff’s Incident Report Narrative, witnesses say the victim was surrounded by five males who began demanding he give them information about a stolen dirt bike. The victim said he kept telling them he had no idea who took the dirt bike. He was then punched in the jaw and fell to the floor.
What followed was a brutal beating by the five males. When the victim fell, the attackers dragged him outside, and continued kicking him. The victim was unconscious for about five minutes, stated witnesses in the sheriff’s report. The brother of the victim gave statements to sheriff’s deputies, describing in detail the beating, including an identification of one attacker.
In an act of retaliation, the victim’s two friends tried to set fire to the house. Then, while attempting to put it out, were chased away by partygoers. When deputies arrived, the two were arrested on arson charges.
In a Superior Court affidavit filed in the arson case, one of the two charged who had witnessed the beating of his friend, wrote that the apparent leader of the group that did the beating yelled at the victim’s friends and the rest of the partygoers, “If you tell anyone or do anything, we’re going to kill you! We know where you live!”
The second victim reportedly now suffers from incapacitating headaches and has to see a chiropractor regularly for spinal injuries.
Because the families of the victims feared more violence for their sons, they did not take legal action. However, the father of the first victim said he consistently contacted Lost Hills Sheriff’s Detective J.P. Manwell, who investigated the beating of his son.
The father said the detective did not return repeated phone calls in April of last year regarding the case, and in May he was told the case was being put on hold until after the summer. In December, the victim went to visit a friend who had witnessed the beating and who was also listed as a victim in the sheriff’s report, to see if they could help identify the attackers. However, a formal identification lineup was never conducted. The victim’s father telephoned Manwell on Jan. 31 and said the detective told him that he would probably stop pursuing the case. The father has kept a detailed call log since April.
Manwell said in a phone interview Tuesday afternoon that the case is open and the status is pending. He said he ran the case by the district attorney’s office in Sylmar, but the office did not want to follow up on it due to lack of evidence.
Regarding the beating in March, Manwell said, “We have yet to receive a strong workable lead as to the identity of the perpetrators in the first beating. And the longer it goes on, the harder it will be to prove.”
A producer at Fox 11 News had first picked up the story idea about the MLO when a videotape of a fight that took place at another party in Malibu during the summer was brought to his attention. The party was thrown by producers in a rented home, and a group of uninvited people crashed the party. They were thrown out, and while in the backyard of the home, a fight broke.
A person connected to Fox 11 had shot videotape of the fight and sent it to the producer. In researching who the people in the group were, the name MLO came up. Then the story published by this paper came to Fox 11’s attention.
The victim of the first beating was shown the tape by the news program reporters. He identified a person in the video as one who was part of the group of attackers and also named in the sheriff’s report.
Although many are labeling the MLO as a gang, Detective Manwell says they are not considered a gang.
“Wannabe gang-type activity is highly discouraged in Malibu,” he said. “We have recognized MLO tagging in the area. However, they are not documented as a gang, or organized as a gang.”
Fox 11 said it conducted an interview with a former MLO member from years ago, who stated that then it (the MLO) wasn’t as bad as it is now.
Both mothers of the victims were asked what they hoped would happen by talking to The Malibu Times as well as to the news program.
The mother of the first victim said, “Our main objective for speaking out on the violence that is happening in Malibu, seemingly on a regular basis, is to put an end to this by having someone in authority flush out the perpetrators, hold them accountable for their actions and to end this dreadful, senseless bloodshed before some poor kid is killed, not just almost killed, like my son.”
The second victim’s mother said, ” As a minister and a parent of one of the victims, what I would like to see come out of this is the remedy. Obviously the issue of accountability is utmost where applicable, but beyond that, the next step is to set up a support system. The reason kids aren’t talking is because they’re scared. They’re witnesses to violence and they have no other support groups.”
The Fox 11 report is scheduled to air Feb. 16 at 10 p.m.