Gang Member Is Sentenced in Attack

A Canyon Country gang member who used a crowbar to attack a teenage boy with cerebral palsy was sentenced Thursday to four years in state prison.

Aaron Apodaca, 21, approached the 15-year-old, who was waiting at a bus stop, and asked if he was affiliated with a gang, said Sandi Gibbons, spokeswoman for the Los Angeles County district attorney's office. When the boy replied no, Apodaca hit the boy in the head with the crowbar.

The boy required stitches after the May 31 attack, Gibbons said.

Apodaca, who pleaded no contest to one count of assault with a deadly weapon, had a battery charge against him dropped in a plea deal, Gibbons said.

He was sentenced in San Fernando Superior Court by Judge Charles Peven.