A 17-year-old featured in the “Brat Camp” reality TV series was charged for allegedly spray-painting racial slurs in front of a home.
Isaiah Alarcon of Winton is one of nine teenagers featured on the ABC program, which documents their progress through a 50-day Oregon wilderness school known for its success at teaching children better behavior.
Alarcon told sheriff’s deputies on July 29 that he used spray paint to scrawl the slurs on the street outside a black preschool teacher’s home, said Merced County Sheriff Mark Pazin.
The teen was held in a juvenile facility for two days and charged with interfering with the exercise of civil rights and damaging property, Pazin said.
A hearing is planned Tuesday to determine if he will be tried as an adult.
“These kids had some real serious issues that needed to be dealt with in a long-term process, not a multi-week TV program for entertainment,” Pazin said.
The Web site for the TV show describes Alarcon as an “angry punk rocker who smokes, drinks and has an obsession with fire.” It said his mother sent him to Oregon’s SageWalk camp to “learn how to deal with his anger issues.”
ABC declined to comment, and producers did not return repeated phone messages.
A teenage friend of Alarcon also was detained and faces the same charges, plus a charge of conspiracy, Pazin said.
Pazin said both told deputies they didn’t mean to cause any harm with the graffiti. If convicted, each could face up to two years in jail and a $15,000 fine.