CLEARFIELD – A 15-year-old boy pleaded guilty for his part in an armed robbery during a session of sentencing court Monday.
The juvenile who is being charged as an adult, pleaded guilty to two counts of criminal conspiracy/robbery, criminal conspiracy/possession of a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance, criminal conspiracy/possession of firearm by minor, and possession of firearm by minor.
He was sentenced by President Judge Fredric J. Ammerman to six months to one year in jail and three years consecutive probation.
Prior to sentencing, Ammerman stated that at one point in time, the juvenile and both his parents were in the county jail. He added that this teen is currently the “worst juvenile case we have.”
Curtis Irwin, attorney for the juvenile, explained that there is an appeal in this case to decertify him as an adult and put his case in the juvenile system. In Pennsylvania juveniles charged with a violent crime can be prosecuted as an adult.
His mother asked to address the court. She said the isolation that her son is kept in at the county jail due to his age is “harder time than at any jail” and added it was tougher than being in state prison.
His grandmother also spoke, saying she has been there for him and she would continue to do so. She explained that she had previously asked a psychiatrist to put him into treatment. “Please, please help me to help him again,” she said to Ammerman.
The charges stem from an incident July 7 in Clearfield Borough when this juvenile (1) and another juvenile (2) robbed a teen at gun point.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, the victim arrived at the police station where he reported that he and two others were near the river around Buck’s Pizza after previously meeting up with the two juveniles.
While they were at the river, he heard the second juvenile cock an automatic pistol with a laser sight. He could see the laser pointed at his chest by the second juvenile. He ordered the victim to give him everything he had.
After the victim turned over his bag to him, the second juvenile allegedly advised them not to follow or he would shoot them.
The victim called his father to tell him what happened. After the father picked them up, they saw the two juveniles near East Market and South Third streets. The father told them to return the bag.
Juvenile 1 retrieved the bag from the other juvenile, removed a bottle of cough syrup and then gave it to the father.
One of the other people with the victim corroborated his story of the robbery.
When the second juvenile was questioned with his father on hand, he said he got a message from the victim asking if he wanted to buy cough syrup. This cough syrup contained codeine, which is a controlled substance.
Arrangements were made for juvenile 2 to buy the cough syrup for $40. They met with the others near Buck’s Pizza, he said. He claimed he was just joking when he pointed the laser at the victim.
He said that the other juvenile took the bag. When they met with the victim’s father, juvenile 2 stated the other juvenile removed the cough syrup from the bag before he returned it to them.
The second juvenile reported that the gun was provided to him by juvenile 1 who told him he had removed it from a vehicle.
In his interview with the police, juvenile 1 said he met with juvenile 2 at the old Leonard Grade School before they walked to a business on Bridge Street where they met the victim and two other juveniles. They then agreed to walk to the rear of Buck’s Pizza.
He said the plan was to walk there and buy the cough syrup from the victim. As they were walking, juvenile 1 said juvenile 2 told him they were going to rob the others and showed him the butt of the weapon. Juvenile 1 said he told juvenile 2 that he couldn’t do that because he was on probation. Juvenile 1 said he walked away from them.
He met up again with the other juvenile near CVS and they walked on until they were confronted by the victim’s father. Juvenile 1 admitted he took the cough syrup out of the bag before he set it on the sidewalk, he said.