Thursday, March 13, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
Nine-year-old Jeremy Anderson will go to trial as scheduled on charges that he vandalized 348 feet of fresh cement at a condominium construction site.
District Attorney Stewart Bell said Wednesday that criminal charges against the boy will be pursued despite a request from developer Richard Plaster to reconsider.
Plaster, president of Signature Homes, made the request because of threats and harassing telephone calls he has received and vandalism aimed at his business. The case has attracted national attention.
But in a news release, Bell said, "A defendant's media blitz attempting to deflect the issue to avoid accountability ... cannot be the fulcrum upon which justice in this county is based."
The decision to proceed, Bell said, came after discussions with Plaster and an agreement by the developer that he would cooperate with the prosecution.
"I appreciate the fact he is doing that," Plaster said Wednesday.
"His priorities are in the right place," Bell commented. "His family, of course, comes first and then his business. He also, however, demonstrated a high degree of community responsibility and concern."
"I no longer look on this as our problem," Plaster said. "It's a community problem. All we did was report a crime."
He downplayed the vindictiveness and indicated he is not going to dwell on the potential for future problems.
"There are all sorts of strange people in the world," he shrugged.
Jeremy has pleaded not guilty to the charges and Juvenile Hearing Master Sylvia Beller set an April 21 trial date for him over the Nov. 19 incident near Washington Avenue and Durango Drive.
Robert Kossack, the attorney for the boy and his mother, Barbara Anderson, said she is "disappointed" at Bell's decision to pursue the charges.
"She believes her son believed he had permission" to scrawl foot-high letters in the fresh cement outside the condominium complex.
The damage resulted in city building inspectors refusing to accept the sidewalk as city property. The tab for removing and replacing it is expected to be more than $7,000.
Kossack said he expects the cost of investigating and prosecuting Jeremy to exceed the cost of the repair job.
Kossack said the criminal prosecution may be intended to dilute the Andersons' success in an anticipated civil lawsuit.
He cited several possible avenues a civil lawsuit might take but said no legal action would be filed before the trial so there are no claims it is being done to influence the outcome of the criminal case.
The defense attorney said there could be no false arrest claim but there may be an action for "unreasonable seizure" because Jeremy purportedly wasn't allowed to call his mother, or over the strip search at Juvenile Court, or because of allegations that he was put in a cell with older prisoners.
The Andersons, however, won't be facing a civil suit from Plaster over the cost of the damages.
The developer said he is not seeking any reimbursement for the replacement costs of the sidewalk, but that might not stop Beller from ordering restitution if she determines Jeremy is guilty of a crime.
Deputy District Attorney Robert Teuton, who heads the juvenile division, said it is possible Jeremy's parents also could be ordered to participate in the payment of restitution.
Teuton said parents can be held liable for up to $10,000 for the intentional acts of their children.
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