Four underage teenagers were arrested recently in Marion County in connection with a home invasion robbery, vehicle theft and battery on a customer at a gas station.
On Nov. 20, Marion County sheriff’s deputies received a call in reference to a battery that had occurred at the Circle K minimart on S.E. Maricamp Road. The victim said he observed two 14-year-olds and two 15-year-olds harassing another customer at the store and when he asked them stop and told them law enforcement was going to be called, they struck him several times before leaving the area, a sheriff’s office report states.
While a deputy was still investigating the incident at the minimart, the sheriff’s office received a report of a home-invasion robbery in the nearby area. The homeowner and her son told deputies they were asleep when they heard loud banging on the front door of the residence, the report says.
The homeowner said when they went to the door and when they asked who was there, the juveniles claimed to be law enforcement. The homeowner’s son advised her to call 911 immediately, at which time the teenagers entered the home from a side door and said they were armed. One of the juveniles snatched the phone from the victim’s hand and pulled the phone cord from the wall socket. The juveniles then located a set of car keys and fled in the victim’s maroon Honda Civic, the report says.
Sheriff’s dispatchers immediately broadcast a description of the stolen vehicle and a deputy spotted it traveling south on S.E. Baseline Road, where it ran a red light and headed west on S.E. 28th Street at more than 100 mph, the report says.
The deputy activated his emergency lights and siren and attempted to initiate a traffic stop. The juveniles continued to flee for several miles before ultimately coming to a stop in the Kingdom Revival Church parking lot when they lost control of the vehicle and crashed into a concrete slab. The 14-year-old driver fled on foot for a short distance but was quickly taken into custody, the report says.
The 14-year-old front-seat passenger attempted to get into the driver’s seat and drive away but the deputy was able to remove him from the vehicle, the report says. The two 15-year-olds were located as passengers in the vehicle.
Interviews were conducted by a sheriff’s office Major Crimes detectives and all four juveniles admitted to their involvement in the crimes that had taken place earlier that night, the report says.
All of the juveniles were arrested and transported to the Juvenile Detention Center. They each were charged with grand theft of a motor vehicle, home invasion with a firearm, tampering in a felony and impersonation of a law enforcement officer in the commission of a felony. The 14-year-old driver also was charged with fleeing and attempting to elude a law enforcement officer, the report says.