Ottumwa teen arrested after assault seen on YouTube

OTTUMWA, Iowa (AP) - Ottumwa police arrested a local teenager after viewing a videotaped beating posted on an Internet video-sharing site.

Investigators were looking into several violent fights in Ottumwa involving teenagers that were recorded and posted on YouTube.com. Authorities said in one assault, a teenager repeatedly stomped the head of another teen.

Police believe several of the fights broadcast on YouTube.com involved the 16-year-old teen arrested on Monday. Investigators say the fights appeared to be gang-related because the name of a gang was yelled numerous times.

The teen in custody is being held on willful injury charges in juvenile detention.

Since the start of the initial investigation, the videos have been removed from YouTube.com.

___

Information from: KCCI-TV, http://www.kcci.com

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press.