A second man has been slapped with charges over a violent attack on a teen last summer outside a Gilbert In-N-Out, as indicated by AZFamily.com. Aris Michael Arredondo now faces a count of aggravated robbery and aggravated assault, with prosecutors arguing his accomplice, 18-year-old Christopher Fantastic, played a brutal role in the assault.
Caught up in the sweep, two 16-year-olds were also arrested, tying together the four accused in an outburst of violence that's become all too familiar in Gilbert. After being arrested earlier this month, Christopher Fantastic, the alleged co-conspirator in the case, was indicted on similar charges, according to the report by AZFamily.com. The group is said to have unleashed their fury on a boy in the In-N-Out parking lot near Williams Field Road and Santan Village Parkway on Aug. 18.
Further revelations from AZFamily.com express that in his initial court appearance, the judge didn't yet link Fantastic to a "gang of kids" based on the arresting documents at hand, despite the state prosecutor's suggestions of his involvement in similar violent robberies. However, a $25,000 bail has been set firming the seriousness of the allegations.
New information regarding the group known as "Gilbert Goons," allegedly tied to an escalating string of teen-linked violence, has not linked the four arrested to the group. Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell conveyed her office's intention to deeply examine if this can escalate to "gang charges or whether it was in furtherance of a street gang", noting "You should take no comfort whatsoever in the time that this has taken to put the case together. We are just lining the ducks up," Mitchell said, preparing for a robust legal standoff, as reported by the AZFamily.com.
The Gilbert Town Council is tackling the issue head-on, with a unanimous vote affirming a subcommittee to probe teen violence. This follows the relentless investigations by Gilbert authorities into nine active cases of teen violence, which have yet to be connected to the "Gilbert Goons" or the fatal beating of Preston Lord, a 16-year-old boy, at a Halloween house party.
