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# Community leader’s brother arrested and charged
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/see-landlords-page-6-community-leaders-brother-arrested-and-charged/
- Published: 2004-07-30T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T04:46:43.000Z
- Author: John Wood
- Tags: Crime, Pier, #archive-import

*Arrest not connected to youth center, de la Torre says*

SM PIER — Prosecutors this week charged a 21-year-old Santa Monica man with allegedly attempting to rob a parking lot attendant after an outdoor evening concert here.

David de la Torre, who has pleaded not guilty to one charge of second degree attempted robbery, is the younger brother of Pico neighborhood activist and local school board member Oscar de la Torre. The younger de la Torre allegedly demanded money from a pier parking attendant on July 22 at about 10:40 p.m., said Santa Monica Police Department Lt. Frank Fabrega.

The attendant shut the kiosk door and David de la Torre allegedly kicked the kiosk and threatened the attendant verbally, Fabrega said. Officers responding to the scene held multiple suspects and the attendant positively identified David de la Torre, who was booked on $50,000 bail.

David de la Torre, who family members said recently returned from a vacation in Mexico and is a student at Santa Monica College, was released from jail Wednesday. A preliminary trial conference is set for Sept. 9, said Sandi Gibbons, a Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office spokeswoman.

In the meantime, family members maintain David de la Torre’s innocence.

“This is totally out of character for David,” Oscar de la Torre said Thursday. “The fact remains that no money was taken, no force was used, no violence occurred and this is a huge misunderstanding. We feel confident that this will be resolved in the next few weeks.”

> “We feel confident that this will be resolved in the next few weeks.” — – OSCAR DE LA TORRE School board member and local activist

After refusing to comment for two days, Oscar de la Torre, who heads the Pico Youth and Family Center, on Thursday denied reports the youth center had organized an outing to see Quetzal, a popular Chicano band that played until nearly 10 p.m. the night of David de la Torre’s arrest. The Pico center receives nearly $300,000 a year from City Hall and often takes field trips to the pier.

“The PYFC had no official outing or field trip whatsoever,” Oscar de la Torre said. “The arrest is unrelated to any program or service that the Pico Youth and Family Center offers.

“We are in the business of helping young people make wise decisions,” he added. “Our job is extremely difficult, considering the fact that we work with low-income families who cannot afford legal representation, and therefore justice, when incidents such as these occur.”

Officials from City Hall said they did-n’t track the center’s events closely enough to know whether or not the group was on the pier last Thursday. It likely wouldn’t have jeopardized funding anyway, they added, because of the difficult nature of the center’s work.

“They’re working specifically with an at-risk population, so I think it’s likely they’re working with a population that’s been involved with the police in the past,” said Tracy Scruggs, City Hall’s supervisor of human services. “They’re trying to get youth engaged in these activities. They try to do fun things as well — do fun things instead of hanging out in streets.”

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 30, 2004.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/073004.pdf?ref=smdp.com)