A former child actor turned Los Angeles firefighter and another man pleaded no contest Friday to misdemeanor battery for attacking a young man who was handing out candy on Halloween 2015 in the Chatsworth area.
Michael Anthony Vitar, 37, and Thomas Molnar, 45, are scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 15. It was not immediately known what punishment they could face.
Vitar is a former child actor who appeared in the 1993 film “The Sandlot,” portraying Benny “The Jet” Rodriguez, along with two “The Mighty Ducks” films.
The men, along with Los Angeles firefighter Eric Carpenter, 39, were all charged in January with assault by means likely to cause great bodily injury. A preliminary hearing for Carpenter is scheduled for Jan. 10. He is accused of personally inflicting great bodily injury on the alleged victim.
According to prosecutors, Carpenter hosted a Halloween party last year at his Chatsworth home that was attended by Vitar and Molnar, one of his neighbors. They became upset when they saw a 22-year-old man, who was in the area visiting his grandmother, handing out candy to kids as he walked down a street, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
The trio ran after the man and jumped him, and Carpenter choked him, prosecutors allege.
Carpenter and Vitar were placed on paid leave pending the resolution of the criminal case, according to the LAFD.
— City News Services