PHOENIX (CN) — The father of a teen who was beaten outside a Gilbert, Arizona, restaurant filed a lawsuit Thursday against 20 people associated with the “Gilbert Goons,” a group of affluent teenagers known in Phoenix’s southeast valley to regularly beat other teenagers at random.
Richard Kuehner filed the suit on behalf of himself and his 17-year-old son Tristan Kuehner. Tristan Kuehner was beaten by at least six people associated with the Gilbert Goons outside of a restaurant in August 2023. Following the assault, the teens threatened to kill him if he told anyone, and showed up at his house a few days later to intimidate him.
Kuehner said in the lawsuit, filed in Maricopa County Superior Court, that Tristan Kuehner was forced to move overseas to live with his mother out of fear of further attacks, missing out on college scholarships and a potential to qualify for Olympic swimming. His medical bills cost $14,000.
This was just one of the dozens of vicious attacks against valley teens, many of which have been video recorded and shared through group chats and social media. A link to 15 videos of the attacks was attached to the lawsuit.
Kuehner, represented by Scottsdale-based attorney Richard Lyons, described the defendants as “mostly rich, entitled white kids who want to be gangsters.”
"The young and completely innocent victims of these assaults suffered skull fractures, facial fractures, broken and missing teeth, concussions and other serious injuries," Kuehner claims in the complaint. "After many of the assaults, the Gilbert Goons continued terrorizing their victims by texting threats of further violence and even death threats, contacting the victim's family members, driving by their homes and knocking on their doors.”
The lawsuit includes names of 20 people associated with the gang, as well as 30 parents of those who were minors at the times of the assaults. Not only are the 20 gang members accused of conspiracy, assault, battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress, but the teens’ parents are accused of negligent supervision.
The five people named who weren’t minors at the time of the attacks are Christopher Fantastic, Gage Garrison, Jacob Pennington, Deleon Haynes and Aris Arredondo.
The others named in the suit are Billy Leist and his parents Lori and William Leist, Jacob Meisner and his parents Wendi and Anthony Meisner, Kyler Renner and his parents Travis and Rebecca Renner, Tyler Freeman and his parents Dawn Buckland and Tim Freeman, Treston Billie and his parents Tami and Christopher Billie, Clayton Oden and his parents Jane Doe Oden and Jeremy Oden, Mason Joesten and his parents Danja and David Joesten, Owen Hines and his parents Laura and William Hines, Mason Lander and his parents Jamie and Theodore Lander, Jack Woods and his parents Kelly and Gary Woods, Chase Lopez and his parents Kelly and Tony Lopez, Mikey Scudieri and his parents Lisa and James Scudieri, Addison Benesh and his parents Jessica and Ben Benesh, Noah Rifenbury and his parents Christina and Christopher Rifenbury, and Lindsey Gewecke and her parents Jill and Michael Gewecke.
Owen Hines and Kyler Renner are now 18 or older.
At least 15 people have been arrested in connection to the Goons since an Arizona Republic investigation linked the gang to the killing of 16-year-old Preston Lord outside a 2023 Halloween party in Queen Creek. Community activists say Lord was killed the same way dozens of other teens have been attacked for the last two years.
Richard Kuehner also accuses the 20 named Goons of killing Lord.
"The conspiracy culminated in the murder of 16-year-old Preston Lord by certain members of the Goons," he says in the lawsuit. "Preston's killers should have been in juvie. Why weren't they arresting and charging these kids?"
The Queen Creek Police Department on Dec. 28 announced its intent to charge five juveniles and two adults with the killing, and turned over the case to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office. It is still under review.
The Goons often used social media to lure teens to neighborhood parties, parks or restaurant parking lots, where they would lie in wait for their attacks, according to Kuehner. Members often posted photos on social media of themselves with guns and cocaine. They’d also send photos of guns to their victims to discourage them from reporting the assaults.
Kuehner said in the suit that his son knows of more members of the Goons, but they aren’t seen in any of the videos, so they aren’t listed in the complaint. Of the 20 members listed, nearly all of them are seen in at least two of the videos Lyons shared. Three are seen in four or more videos.
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