Nearly a year after slapping an autistic boy for touching the emblem on his Mercedes-Benz sedan, Scott Sakajian entered a no-contest plea to a criminal charge of battery on Tuesday, June 17, at the San Fernando Courthouse.
As part of his plea deal, Sakajian was sentenced to 12 months of probation, ordered to do 20 days of community labor, perform 36 anger management classes and pay restitution to the family of 11-year-old Alfredo Morales for costs incurred as a result of this criminal conduct. This follows a failed motion for Judicial Diversion in March that would’ve allowed Sakajian to avoid having a criminal record.
On July 1, 2024, Alfredo was crossing the street near the intersection of Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Osborne Street in Pacoima with his sister, Claudia Morales, when he touched the emblem on Sakajian’s car that was at the crosswalk, stopped at the traffic light. When the light changed, Sakajian then made a U-turn and followed the pair to a nearby bus stop. He got out of his car, walked up to the bench where Alfredo was sitting and slapped him while his sister attempted to intervene.
Cell phone video was taken of the incident, including Claudia Morales explaining that her brother is autistic. The footage went viral on social media.
The family used to live in Sheldon Arleta Park in Sun Valley after they became homeless in 2020 when their newly opened restaurant went bankrupt during the COVID-19 pandemic, causing them to lose their life savings.
But according to the family’s attorney, Antonio Villegas, they had to start living in motel rooms a few days after the incident out of fear for their safety, claiming that people who said they were sent by Sakajian tried to coerce them into signing a settlement agreement and offered them $5,000 to give up their rights to pursue individual action.
“To this day, they still live in motel rooms,” Villegas said. “We also had to have [Alfredo] evaluated by one of the state’s leading behavioral experts at a significant cost. I will be presenting that bill to the court so he can tell us what type of education the boy needs in order to help him develop further … so that his behaviors are not as severely triggered by his … autism.
“He is on the most severe level of autism that there is on the spectrum, nonverbal autistic, but because that condition resulted in him being the victim of a crime, we had to take action so that it wouldn’t happen in the future,” Villegas continued.
Alfredo now attends Port View Preparatory in Tustin, a school that caters to the needs of K-22 students with developmental disabilities.
Although the case ended in the Morales family’s favor, Villegas said that it’s a “mixed feeling for them.” He explained that during the course of this case, Sakajian’s defense attorney, James Blatt, put the family on trial – making claims that the parents were abusive and suggesting the whole incident was a setup to make them money.
Villegas added that in their last court appearance, Blatt called him a member of the Mexican Mafia.
“He put [the Morales family] on trial as trash and me as a thug, … which is straight racist bulls**t,” Villegas said. “He can’t wrap his head around the fact I’m a superior lawyer to him and I’m the son of once undocumented immigrants. … That’s his problem, not mine.”
While the family will be getting some compensation, they still need a lot of help – chiefly, with housing. They have yet to find an apartment that will take them due to their bad credit, stemming from years of homelessness. As they try to find a place, they’ve had to pay at least $700 a week to live in a motel. Even though they managed to raise more than $90,000 through GoFundMe a year ago, Villegas said that amount doesn’t go far in LA.
More Support and Services for Autistic Kids
Over the course of the case and becoming close with the family, Villegas has seen how difficult it can be for families raising autistic children, describing it as a full-time job. It becomes even more challenging when they don’t have access to support and resources.
Villegas believes that, first and foremost, public school districts should do a much better job of providing services. He said that they fall short when it comes to educating children with autism. While he did admit that it would involve a significant amount of money to provide the resources and staff necessary to properly help them develop, he added that these districts, by all appearances, are not interested in providing them.
Although Alfredo now attends Port View, which Villegas described as the number one school for autistic children in Southern California, he explained that it was only possible because they were able to pull strings to enroll him. Villegas said that Alfredo is the only homeless kid at that school.
“What about all the other kids that have autism that don’t have the benefit of having a lawyer and a team like mine,” Villegas said. “What about the rest of the autistic kids that are stuck in public schools that are failing them? What about them? What about their families?”
Attending Port View has made a big impact on Alfredo and his family, Villegas continued. His behavior is much calmer than before, and his parents feel at ease knowing that he’s getting the proper schooling and don’t have to worry about other kids bullying him.
Villegas said that Alfredo finally has the people he needs to develop him “in the proper way” and that this is what other autistic children need so they and their families can live semi-normal lives.
“Every kid deserves that,” he said. “They’re entitled to that, and the state needs to provide the resources in order for them to have a chance.”