TEEN AVOIDS HATE CHARGE DEPUTY D.A. BARGAINS GUILTY STALKING PLEA.

Byline: Holly Edwards Staff Writer

VALENCIA - An 18-year-old Canyon Country man pleaded guilty Monday to stalking an African-American bus driver with a group of teens described by investigators as white-supremacist skinheads.

David Eugene Lampman is expected to be sentenced later this month to six months in prison and three years' probation.

Newhall Superior Court Judge Cynthia Ulfig said she believed the teen should also undergo counseling.

``I think perhaps Mr. Lampman needs some counseling or anger management since he could hurt someone else or he himself could be hurt by committing these kinds of acts,'' Ulfig said.

Under terms of Lampman's plea agreement, charges of possessing and detonating an explosive device and conspiracy to commit assault were dropped, as well as the special circumstance allegation that the acts were hate crimes.

Deputy District Attorney Olivia Rosales of the Hate Crimes Suppression Unit said she agreed to drop the charges because Lampman had no prior record and was not the primary instigator in the crimes.

``I wanted him to plead guilty to a felony so he would wake up and realize that he can't keep doing this,'' she said. ``But I also wanted to give him a chance to get his life back together.''

Lampman's attorney, Deputy Public Defender Larry Rivetz, said he thought the plea bargain agreement was fair.

``We all agree it was in his best interests to dispose with the case,'' Rivetz said.

In the stalking incidents, Lampman and two juveniles stopped the bus driver along her route through Canyon Country several times a week from September through November last year, Rosales said.

The teens stood in front of the bus in an area where the driver could not turn around, used racial slurs, pounded on the doors and ordered the driver to get off the bus, she said. Finally, the driver was forced to change her route.

Lampman was also accused of detonating an explosive device in the Pinetree area and of driving a group of teens to the home of a Latino teen-ager whom the teens planned to beat up.

The teens threw a fire extinguisher through the window but sheriff's deputies arrived before any assault occurred, she said. Those charges were dropped.

Two 17-year-old boys and one 16-year-old boy who were arrested with Lampman pleaded guilty last month in juvenile court to explosives and burglary charges. One also pleaded guilty to charges of assaulting an African-American teen with a homemade flame thrower.