Two 14-year-olds in North Carolina are each facing 126 charges after High Point police connected them to more than 50 cases involving stolen vehicles and car break-ins.
The teenagers, one from Greensboro and the other from Lexington, were charged by juvenile petition, the High Point Police Department announced Sept. 9. Their cases are being handled by Juvenile Court Services.
Each teenager faces 42 counts of felony conspiracy, 36 counts of breaking and entering a motor vehicle, 31 counts of larceny of a motor vehicle, and 12 counts of possession of a stolen motor vehicle. The remaining charges include felony larceny, hit-and-run, injury to real property, breaking and entering to commit larceny, and misdemeanor conspiracy.
The cases emerged after police saw an increase in vehicle thefts and break-ins during August. The activity was concentrated around apartment complexes in northern High Point, and police said some targeted vehicles had been left unlocked with their keys inside.
Connecting Dots
Chief Curtis Cheeks III credited officers with piecing together what had initially been more than 50 separate cases.
“I am proud of our officers for the time they spent connecting the dots across more than 50 cases and charging the people responsible,” Cheeks said.
There was another clue connecting the activity across city lines.
Cheeks told WXII that police had been receiving information about a particular vehicle and its occupants traveling between High Point and Greensboro.
When officers eventually tried to make contact, the teenagers ran from the vehicle, Cheeks told the station. Police searched the area and took both into custody.
The chief struck a different tone when talking about what happened next. The suspects may be facing a staggering number of charges, but both are still 14.
“It’s frustrating to know teenagers are behind these crimes,” Cheeks said. “They should be focused on going to school, playing sports and learning new hobbies, not committing crimes and disrupting our community.”
Cheeks said the department would continue outreach aimed at children but argued that families, mentors, and coaches also have a role in keeping a bad decision from defining a teenager’s life.
A Missing Telluride
The August theft spree had already left some High Point residents trying to recover their vehicles themselves.
Barbara Knight walked outside on Aug. 18 and discovered that her Kia Telluride was gone, she told FOX8.
A high-end Nuna stroller had been inside the SUV. Knight figured that whoever had the vehicle might try selling the stroller online, so she started watching Facebook Marketplace.
The gamble paid off. Knight found a listing for the stroller and kept police informed as she worked to locate her missing SUV.
“On a Tuesday morning, I walked outside, and my car wasn’t there,” Knight recalled. “It’s like this surreal feeling seeing your property lifted up, disappeared out of nowhere.”
FOX8 later spoke with Knight after police announced the cases against the two teenagers. Her theft occurred during the same August period in which police documented the wider increase in vehicle crime, though the department’s release does not identify her case among those charged to the teenagers.
Knight said learning the suspects’ ages left her with another shock.
“My jaw dropped because those are children at the end of the day,” she told the station. “They should be out playing, riding their bikes. I can’t imagine what path led them to that.”
126 Each
The distinction is easy to miss because of the size of the case: the teenagers are not facing 126 charges between them.
They are facing 126 charges apiece.
Police listed the same nine categories of charges for each teenager, totaling 252 individual counts across the two juvenile petitions.
Because the cases are being handled through the juvenile system, police did not identify either 14-year-old in the release.
All parties are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.