12yr old boy arrested for opening christmas present early Penalty for unwrapping gifts early: Arrest:eek: :eek: After boy, 12, hides his Game Boy, his mom calls police By Monica Chen · The Herald - Updated 12/05/06 - 12:50 AM A mother convinced Rock Hill police to arrest her 12-year-old son after he unwrapped a Christmas present early. The boy's great-grandmother had specifically told him not to open his Nintendo Game Boy Advance, which she had wrapped and placed beneath the Christmas tree, according to a police report. But on Sunday morning, she found the box of the popular handheld game console unwrapped and opened. When the boy's 27-year-old mother heard about the opened gift, she called police. "He took it without permission. He wanted it. He just took it," said the 63-year-old great-grandmother. Both the great-grandmother and the mother asked the boy on Sunday where the present was. The boy replied he didn't know. When the mother threatened to call the police, the boy went into his room and got the Game Boy, the report stated. She called the police anyway. Two Rock Hill police officers responded to the home and charged the boy with petty larceny. He was charged as a juvenile and released the same day, said police spokesman Lt. Jerry Waldrop, who added the boy was never held at the jail. "We wouldn't hold a 12-year-old," he said. The Herald is not identifying the boy or his mother and great-grandmother because of his age. On Monday night, the mother said she had her son arrested because she didn't know what else to do. She had the child when she was 15, the woman said, and has been a single mother struggling to earn a business degree. She said the boy likes attention and has a history of bad behavior. He has shoplifted from stores and stolen money from her, she said. The boy has also been inching toward expulsion from school, she added, and even punched a police officer last month. He was arrested for disorderly conduct in that incident. She hoped the arrest would be a wake-up call for him. She dreads getting a phone call someday reporting he's been killed. The boy "showed no remorse" when the police came, the mother said. "I'm trying to get him some kind of help," she said. "He's the type of kid who doesn't believe anything until it happens." Waldrop said the women were seeking help with a problem child. "He is a disruptive, disorderly kid." Waldrop said he trusted the two responding officers to exercise discretion when deciding whether to arrest the youngster. "In a case like this, if the parents and grandparents are adamant about it and they feel the child has a serious problem, I can't second-guess what the officers did," Waldrop said. The mother told police officers that she would have the boy placed with the state Department of Juvenile Justice in Columbia at his court appearance. Waldrop said he was not aware if Rock Hill police have ever arrested a child for unwrapping Christmas presents early. "Yeah, it's strange," he said of the case. |
Yeah.. I saw that the other day..maybe that'll straighten him up |
At first, I was shocked that parents would call police for opening a gift early but after reading the whole story, I hope that boy shapes up. |
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Before I read it I thought that the parents must have some serious issues. But now I get it. |
Wow...... |
I still think it stinks when parents expect the police to do their parenting for them! Sure he needed to be taught a lesson -- like not getting the Game Boy for Christmas. But police? No wonder he is a discipline problem. I wonder how she handled all the other behavior problems as they occurred. Being a parent is tough work, even tougher if you are a single parent -- but you owe it to the kids to make them behave -- from day 1!!! |
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I agree - Cops have WAY better things to do - and it does sound like the kid has problems - but opening a Christmas gift early is NO crime. Mom probably did him a dis-service ....when the cops REALLY arrest him for something (and it sounds like he's on his way) - he's not going to be very scared next time. Or the next time etc. She sure didn't handle that very well - Me - I'd have taken the thing away and left it at a friends if he's that good about finding things & only given it back to him when he straightens up. |
Wow! This is kind of a sad story!!!! |
The cops are not there to parent kids. There are consequences to calling cops that parents don't realize. There was a woman whose son took a check and forged it for $100. She wanted to teach him a lesson, so she called the police and had him spend the night in jail. Next morning she dropped the charges and went and got him. Done deal? Nope, the state is charging him, he's 17/18, so stakes are higher now. He's had to get an attorney, minimum $2500, probably will only get some probation, but it's on his record now. His mother refuses to pay for the attorney, so his uncle and grandmother are, because they think mom went to far. It's sad, $100 bucks is going to cost them $2,500. I just think there was a better way mom could have handled this. Granted I'm not sure how much trouble the boy has been in the past, and maybe she felt it was the best way to handle it. I don't know. |
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