Two Apple Valley teenagers accused of hollering racial slurs and assaulting a black family pleaded guilty Wednesday.
James and Regina McWilliams and their two sons were riding their bikes on Navajo Road on their way back from a park in Apple Valley on June 21. Then suddenly, Tommy Lee Rhea, 19, came rushing toward them, shouting racial slurs with a knife in his hand, officials said.
James McWilliams said he quickly got in front of his children to protect them. Rhea went back to his apartment to get Richard Butler Cambria, 17, James McWilliams said. The teenagers kept yelling slurs and threats while holding baseball bats, according to authorities.
"My kids were scared to death," Regina McWilliams said. "They were crying and screaming. ... They need to know they can't do things like this. It's 2010."
The victims suffered no injuries, but the parents say their 9- and 6-year-old boys are still suffering from the traumatic experience.
"He doesn't want to go outside by himself," Regina McWilliams said about her older son. "He's scared to go outside, go to the park. He wants to stay home."
Investigators found n e o -- Na z i a n d ga n grelated writings and taggings inside Rhea's home, Deputy District Attorney Shannon Faherty said. The defendants were initially charged with hate crime allegations.
Rhea and Cambria changed their pleas at the last minute before their preliminary hearing Wednesday at Victorville Superior Court.
Rhea pleaded guilty to assault with a deadly weapon and admitted to participation in criminal street gang. Judge John Tomberlin immediately sentenced him to four years in prison.
Cambria, who wore a gray juvenile detention sweatshirt, pleaded guilty to assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury and admitted to making criminal threats. He's scheduled to be sentenced to three years in prison on Aug. 24.
They'll each get a strike under California's Three Strikes law.
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