No hard time for concrete kid

      The case of a boy whose name was written in concrete was settled Tuesday when 10-year-old Jeremy Anderson pleaded no contest in Juvenile Court to a gross misdemeanor.
      The Las Vegas boy admitted writing his name and the names of his friends in a 350-foot stretch of wet concrete last year, but he stuck by his previous story, claiming a construction worker at the site had invited him to do so.
      "Do you think that's OK?" Juvenile Hearing Master Sylvia Beller asked the boy, who stood before her in court.
      "Yeah," Jeremy replied in a soft voice.
      Beller then lectured the child on the dangers of talking to strangers.
      "That's the lesson," the hearing master concluded. "Just because an adult says it, doesn't make it right. You have to talk to your mother first."
      Jeremy's mother, Barbara, has been his biggest supporter since police arrested him Jan. 28 on a felony charge at McMillan Elementary School, where he attends third grade.
      The woman brought national attention to the case by claiming authorities had treated her son unfairly. Jeremy was taken to the Clark County Juvenile Detention Center and strip searched without his mother's knowledge.
      The vandalism occurred Nov. 19 on a stretch of wet concrete on Washington Avenue in northwest Las Vegas. The Plasterers and Cement Masons union later repaired the sidewalk.
      Because the original damage estimate was more than $5,000, based on the cost to repair the sidewalk, Jeremy faced a felony charge of malicious destruction of private property.
      Prosecutors reduced that charge to a gross misdemeanor after the masons union donated time and materials to fix the damage.
      As part of the plea bargain, Barbara Anderson must pay $100 restitution to the union. Her son will spend the next six months on probation.
      Beller said she will dismiss the charge if Jeremy stays out of trouble while on probation.
      After Tuesday's hearing, Barbara Anderson explained her decision to negotiate her son's criminal case.
      "I think it was a necessary thing to do for the well-being of my family," she said.
      Barbara Anderson said prosecutors planned to have Jeremy's older brother testify against him.
      Chief Deputy District Attorney Robert Teuton confirmed that he would have called the older brother as a witness. He said both boys gave different versions of the events surrounding the vandalism.
      Teuton said he also subpoenaed 20 other potential witnesses, including five construction workers who would have testified they saw no children at the site before leaving the area on the afternoon the vandalism occurred.
      The prosecutor said he brought photographs of the five workers to court Tuesday. Defense attorney Robert Kossack said he showed the photographs to Jeremy and his brother before the hearing, and both boys picked out the same man.
      Teuton said Jeremy originally told authorities the construction worker at the site was white, but the boy and his brother selected the photograph of a black man.
      Kossack said he may file lawsuits on behalf of the Anderson family against the Metropolitan Police Department and Richard Plaster, owner of Plaster Development Co.
      Plaster, the victim of the vandalism, sought restitution for the damage but later asked prosecutors to drop the criminal charge against Jeremy.