We’ve been following up on the 13-year-old boy arrested for investigation of a robbery and assault at the Westwood Village Rite Aid last Saturday night. According to prosecutors and court records, he already has two other cases pending – and was wanted on warrants for both. (We are not publishing his name, as he is in the juvenile prosecution/detention system.)
The first case gained regional media attention – also a business robbery and assault, last September at a mini-mart in Normandy Park, where security video (aired in TV reports like this one) showed someone – allegedly this same suspect – beating and kicking the clerk. The suspect was charged with second-degree robbery, fourth-degree assault, and third-degree theft. Court documents say he was identified to authorities by his parents – his father is quoted as telling authorities he had taught his son to box and recognized his movements in the store security video. He was held in secure detention for some time but then, according to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, he was placed on electronic home monitoring this past February 14 (though the KCPAO says they have “consistently” argued for detention). One week later, prosecutors say, he cut the monitoring device, and a warrant was issued. One week after that, on February 28, he was charged with taking a motor vehicle without permission in connection with the theft last October of a Hyundai Elantra in Renton. Two weeks after those charges were filed, he failed to appear for arraignment in mid-March, and prosecutors sought another warrant. Since his arrest last weekend, he has pleaded not guilty. Tomorrow is the deadline for charges in the new case; prosecutors asked that he remain held in secure detention, and a judge agreed.
| 44 COMMENTS