Testimony about Silver Strand Locals upsets some in small community

When the term "Silver Strand Locals" gained traction decades ago in the small community near the edges of Oxnard and Port Hueneme, the mile-long strip of beach was largely blue collar and a haven for nonconformists such as surfers, skaters, punk rockers, some residents say.

A popular surfing spot where graffiti on a lifeguard tower once proclaimed "if you think you can just pull up and paddle out, you are wrong," Silver Strand was a tight-knit community where neighbors looked out for each other and sometimes resented arrivals of outsiders, residents say.

So when prosecutors in the Brandon McInerney murder trial argued he was a member of a criminal street gang called the Silver Strand Locals, or SSL — and was influenced by white supremacist members of the group — some residents were upset.

Like McInerney's attorneys, residents argue that SSL is simply a mark of local pride for a diverse community, not a gang with white supremacist leanings.

Ventura County Sheriff's Department officials, however, said there is a criminal SSL gang with at least a dozen youths, and deputies recently increased enforcement in the area in response to several assaults. The enforcement is unrelated to the high-profile trial, officials said.

Some residents said the community is being unfairly tarnished because of a small number of people, and that locals who are not gang members have been stopped by authorities just because they have tattoos.

Sheriff's officials said they are not aware of any complaints involving such allegations.

McInerney, who lived in Silver Strand, is charged with murder and a hate crime for the 2008 killing of Larry King, 15, in their classroom at an Oxnard middle school.

Prosecutors said McInerney, now 17, was a SSL gang member. They allege white supremacist ideas influenced his decision to kill King, who told classmates he was gay and wore effeminate clothing. The defense is arguing that SSL is not a gang, and that McInerney killed King because he was provoked and had an abusive childhood.

Dan Swanson, a Simi Valley police detective and white supremacist expert, testified that McInerney was a white supremacist and member of SSL, which he characterized as a criminal street gang.

On the witness stand, several Silver Strand residents disputed the claim about SSL, including David Wentworth, a longtime resident who said the community was "besmirched" by the accusation.

Wentworth spoke for many residents, said Bill Higgins, who has lived in Silver Strand with his wife since 1972. Higgins said the SSL label is a positive mark of community pride that has been around for decades. He acknowledged the community has its problems, but he attributed those to individuals and rejected the idea that SSL is a gang.

"We don't believe it's factual," said Higgins, 66. "My wife and I are in our 60s and we consider ourselves Silver Strand Locals."

Jared Bouchard, general manager of the Channel Islands Beach Community Services District, said he's received at least 10 calls from residents wanting his agency to do something to counter what they see as an unfair characterization of SSL.

Bouchard said it would not be appropriate for him or his agency to take a position on the issue, but he said many are particularly angry over the statements about white supremacist elements in SSL. He said they feel the community is diverse, and that some young people identified as SSL are black or Latino.

To assume anyone with an SSL tattoo or bumper sticker is a white supremacist is simply wrong, Higgins said. "It's just offensive," he said.

Higgins said his wife was once attacked by a man who went to prison for it and came back talking about white power to pump himself up to Silver Strand kids of McInerney's age. While some of the kids "played at" following white supremacist philosophies, there was no serious gang operation with structure or leadership, Higgins said.

Former resident Brandon Cruz said he sees Silver Strand as color blind. Cruz, 49, said that when Swanson interviewed him a few years ago and read him a list of supposed white power members of SSL, he laughed when he heard his nephews' names.

"They're half-black," Cruz said. "They (prosecutors) are grasping at straws and not looking at the real picture."

Senior Deputy District Attorney Maeve Fox, who is prosecuting the McInerney case, declined to comment on the SSL issue.

SSL may be the least active gang in the county, but it's still a criminal street gang, said Sgt. Bill Schierman of the sheriff's West County Gang Unit. He said a dozen or more teens and young adults are in the gang, which has assaulted outsiders to preserve its territory.

He said a gang is defined as a group whose members commit criminal acts for its benefit and have a common name, and SSL meets that criteria. Using violence to protect turf or increase prestige also is part of a gang's definition, he said.

"I'm not sure why they're saying SSL is not a gang," Schierman said.

Gang investigators are determining if SSL members were involved in a July 18 assault in which a man was attacked from behind, knocked unconscious and left on a Silver Strand beach, Schierman said. The attack appeared unprovoked.

The unit also is investigating a July 3 incident in which a Navy serviceman suffered a broken nose, Schierman said. Investigators believe SSL members were involved, but they're not sure if it was a crime or just a fight, he said.

On the witness stand, Wentworth said he was afraid of sheriff's retaliation for testifying and that authorities were asking to see people's tattoos in the community.

Cruz said he was pulled over in Silver Strand by police in July. He said he didn't do anything wrong and the officer wouldn't say why he was pulled over, but he was let go without a citation after the officer checked his license and registration.

Higgins said that when a carpenter friend who is a county employee came to his home recently, deputies asked the young man to take off his shirt to see his tattoos. The man refused, and deputies let him go after asking some additional questions, Higgins said.

He said the community supports the Sheriff's Department, but such incidents erode the community's confidence. "It's a little unnerving," Higgins said.

Schierman said asking to see tattoos of known gang members is standard procedure in gang investigations, and anyone who feels they've been mistreated by police should contact internal affairs. He said he's not aware of any complaints made to the department, and it's unfair for people to launch unfounded allegations.

Schierman said he's focused on people who commit crimes and he doesn't care if law-abiding citizens call themselves SSL, although he's puzzled over why they would do that.

"Maybe back when they were participating in SSL it wasn't a criminal street gang, but now it is," he said. "Their issue should be with the group of individuals who are claiming SSL and committing crimes."Len Newcomb, a private investigator who grew up in Silver Strand and patrolled the area during his career with the Oxnard Police Department, said residents began identifying themselves as Silver Strand Locals as early as the 1970s.

In the 1960s, Silver Strand was populated mostly by lower-income people and Navy families, and they resented it when wealthy Los Angeles folks started building there, moving in and surfing their area, he said. He believes SSL just refers to local residents.

He said outsiders' cars would get smashed if they came to surf there, and some people probably got beaten up, but SSL was not an organized gang.

"Their only hostilities were aimed at people who would come in and invade their neighborhood," said Newcomb, who retired from Oxnard police in 1995. "It's never been a gang."

Newcomb said he likes and respects Maeve Fox, but he thinks she's wrong about SSL. "I don't think it's anything like it's being portrayed," he said.

Cruz agreed. "Don't go blaming a group of people for one individual's action," he said. "We did not do this. We are not a gang. We do not condone what McInerney did."

Cruz said the term SSL is all about community, widely accepted surf etiquette involving respect and safety, and an element of Neighborhood Watch. People's attachment to the label also is due to the community's history as a welcoming place for those who didn't fit in elsewhere, like skaters, surfers and punk rockers, he said.

"It was like the island of misfit toys," Cruz said. "We had a wrench for every nut."

Staff writer Zeke Barlow contributed to this report.