Is a gang of teenagers terrorizing McKinleyville?

That’s certainly the impression one gets from reading a lively community watch Facebook page that covers the town. Over the last couple of months, “McKinleyville Community Watch” has been peppered with warnings about a group of teens, sometimes referred to as the “Mac Town Boys,” who are said to slash tires, randomly beat other kids or sometimes adults, and generally rampage the community. Photos of the group, which show them making arcane hand signs and wearing red, have been posted to the page.

Last night a member of the page posted that her husband had just witnessed a group of kids beat a homeless man with an aluminum baseball bat, then rob items from their victim’s backpack. The poster said that the victim told her husband that the teens had pulled a gun on him. Commenters quickly tied the incident to the Mac Town Boys, and the pictures were posted again, along with calls to identify the kids in the frame.

This morning, the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that it responded to this incident at about 6:30 p.m. yesterday. However, the victim did not cooperate with the police, and did not wish to file a report. He also declined medical attention. Lt. Kevin Miller, commander of the sheriff office’s McKinleyville substation, told the Outpost that without the victim’s account of the attack his office has no idea who committed the assault.

But Miller affirmed that McKinleyville has been having trouble with a particular group of kids who roam the town and seem dedicated to crime, or generally antisocial behavior, as a sort of summertime leisure activity. He said that the boys seem call themselves a “gang,” in a wannabe sort of way, but that law enforcement sees them more as a bunch of juvenile delinquents, whose parents seem to allow them to roam the city unsupervised.

“This is basically a group of young juveniles who are out and causing problems,” he said.

Miller said that he has no direct knowledge of any member of the group being involved in any violent incidents. A few weeks ago, McKinleyville Community Watch members had pegged an assault on another kid to the Mac Town Boys, but Miller said that his information leads him to believe that another group of boys entirely was responsible – and that it was not a random attack but the result of a specific beef the attackers had with the kid attacked.

Nevertheless, deputies are keeping an eye on the Mac Town Boys, Miller said, and they know a lot about who they are and what they’re up to. Two of the members aren’t even from McKinleyville – they come to town from the Willow Creek area to run around town with the group. There have been two arrests associated with the group over the past couple of weeks. One member was picked up for burglary, and another for a dine ‘n’ dash that the crew had perpetrated at a local restaurant.

The sheriff’s office’s response to this group of kids is hampered, somewhat, by the very fact that they are kids, Miller said. Juvenile Hall keeps only the “worst of the worst,” he said, the rest of the time simply keeping kids on ice for a while before their parents can come pick them up. Nevertheless, the sheriff’s office has been communicating what it knows about the Boys to both the juvenile probation department and to local schools. McKinleyville High, Miller said, is definitely aware of the group.

“The bottom line is you just have to keep enforcing things as you can with them — not cutting them any breaks,” Miller said. “And then hopefully the juvenile justice system kicks in.” 

Miller had kind words for the McKinleyville Watch Page, and for similar efforts to get neighbors to talk to one another and to take interest their community.

“I would say that obviously it’s great to share information, and social media is certainly a very effective tool for doing so,” he said. He did suggest, though, that the furor over this particular “gang” was perhaps a bit overblown.

“This [Facebook] group – their hearts are in the right place,” Miller said. However, he cautioned members about jumping to conclusions, and urged anyone with solid information about any crimes committed by the Mac Town Boys – or anyone else, presumably – to call it in to the Sheriff’s Office.