Suspected bike thieves rough up schoolboy

A 16-year-old said he was riding his bike home from San Marcos High School on a Tuesday afternoon when he was confronted by two persons he had never seen before. “I just felt this punch,” the boy told a judge on March 19 during a hearing for two young men accused in the incident.

The alleged victim said it was near 3 p.m. on February 11 when he was hit in the head multiple times, which made him “dizzy,” and then he stumbled off his bicycle. “I saw one of them grab my bike,” the boy said. One of his attackers rode away on his bike and the other person left on a skateboard, the boy testified.

San Diego sheriff’s deputies were en route to the incident, reported at the intersection of Knoll Road and West San Marcos Boulevard, when they were redirected to a nearby movie theater; a witness had followed two suspects and phoned in their movements, according to deputy Brian Baydo.

Deputy Baydo said he found two suspicious persons in the men’s restroom of the Edwards movie-theater complex on West San Marcos Boulevard. Deputy Corey Crawford said Salazar told him the bicycle was hidden behind a nearby restaurant, from where it was retrieved.

The alleged victim was brought to look at the suspects and, “He said, ‘That’s him, that’s the guy who punched me and took my bike,’” according to Crawford. The deputy said the boy indicated Salazar.

Omar Israel Salazar and Aurelio Corrales, both 18, were arrested on suspicion of robbery.

Judge Harry Elias ordered both Salazar and Corrales to answer one charge of grand theft. The defendants pleaded not guilty, are currently at liberty, and are next due in court on April 17.