Teen girl armed robbery gang

D

DC

Moderator Emeritus
http://search.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WAPO/19990813/V000523-081399-idx.html

Bold face mine:

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Teen-agers Charged in Crime Spree

By C. Bryson Hull
Associated Press Writer
Friday, August 13, 1999; 10:02 p.m. EDT

HOUSTON (AP) -- Four teen-age girls who police say hatched
a crime spree when they found themselves without pocket
money were charged Friday with five armed robberies.

All four girls are middle-class high school students or recent
graduates in suburban Kingwood.

``That's not the typical profile of an aggravated robbery
suspect,'' said Capt. Steve Smith.

Authorities charged Katie Marie Dunn, Malissa Chalerm
Warzeka, both 17, and Michelle Renee Morneau, 18, with one
count each of aggravated robbery with a deadly weapon. A
16-year-old female, whose identity was not released because
of her age, was charged with two counts of aggravated
robbery.

``They were sitting at a Sonic restaurant, and ran out of
money and said `Let's do a robbery,''' said Billy Stephens, a
police spokesman. ``One of them said `I've got a gun' and
another said `I've got a mask.'''

Armed with a shotgun, a .22 rifle and semiautomatic pistol,
the hooded and sunglass-wearing robbers struck a bakery, a
grocery store and convenience stores from May 30 to July 10,
police said.

Two would enter a store, with one acting as lookout and the
other handling the cashier, Stephens said. A third was the
getaway driver, he said.

``The one that was in front me kept telling me I had two
minutes to hand over the cash or she was going to shoot me,''
said Cynthia Woodard, a clerk at a convenience store. ``I was
so nervous I threw the money over the bag they held out in
front of me.''

Police were tipped off when the girls began bragging,
Stephens said.

``It was brought to our attention that they were going to
parties, really bragging up a storm,'' he said.

The girls are free on bond and face a hearing Sept. 2.

© Copyright 1999 The Associated Press[/quote]

Free on bond???? Excuse me?! Say what?!!!

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"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes" RKBA!
 
Of course if they didn't have easy access to guns it never would have happened, right?

Who teaches these kids their moral values any way. If my kid ever did something like that he wouldn't have to worry about what a court might do to him because he'd have to deal with me first. Of course knowing the courts these days they'd bust me for child abuse or something then.
 
Thank your chosen deity that nobody was injured or killed or we (gun owners) would be ,,,,,,well you know the rest of that story. I suppose it never entered their mind to get a job. I wonder how many of the stores they robbed had help wanted signs posted?

Any idea what kind of sentance they face?

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It seems Criminal Activity has become an acceptable pastime with our youth.

Doesn't the media see this? It's not the guns - it is the morals. The kids DONT HAVE ANY... If you take away the morals - you gotta expect this kind of behavior... Read some classic lit - LORD OF THE FLIES... It is a prime lesson on this - take away morals and the kids will act like barbarians.
Makes me VERY woeful for the future. Things Never get better, so I am afraid of how BAD things will get.

------------------
"But I don't want to go among mad people," Alice remarked.
"Oh, you can't help that," said the Cat: "we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad."
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn't have come here."

RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE
 
I don't know about the rest of you, but there have always been a lot of kids out there who have done something that they were later not proud of... So what is the difference between those who turned back to good and those towards the dark side? It's what happens at this point in those girls lives... if their parents do as others have suggested, as what was done to my older and younger brother... well then they would have a good chance of turning back to the good side. On the other hand it they are not held accountable to the full extent of the law... if they blame it on the guns, or their parents, or their upbringing, well these lead to the dark side. They must be held accountable.



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Richard

The debate is not about guns,
but rather who has the ultimate power to rule,
the People or Government.
RKBA!
 
The way our criminal justice system works, I forsee the following;
Mommy and Daddy hire some "big gun" lawyers.

Everybody gets youthful offender status.

The gun charges will be dropped, as they usually are,being nobody was shot.

This is their very first armed robberies so,

Suspended sentences all around,community service, and a promise not to do it again.

Because, after all, it's those damn guns that made them do it.
 
Well, now all their freinds and their friends' friends and their freinds' freinds' freinds and any youth that pay attention to the rumors and local news know that it they get a wild hair up their butt to go on a crime spree, that they won't even be kept in jail for sentencing. This kind of things gets around. Kids and criminals figure out that there are no consequences for their actions. That's why these girls did it in the first place, they had seen in past events that the last people just got a slap on the wrist. Multiply this event by hundreds and thousands of cases, and you have a nation full of fearless criminals.

Some people talk about reforming criminals, some talk about revenge, but I think that the number one reason to amply punish criminals is to show the others out there that if they choose to do that behavior, there are consequences. The courts just showed everyone around that is considering such actions in the future that there are no consequences.
 
Growing up I did a lot of stupid things that I'm not proud of, but I will tell you when I did them I always got my ass kicked.

It was NOT abuse, it was a punishment that I derserved.

My Dad and I are the best of friends still
he is the one that taught me how to shoot.
It was learning that and many more skills from him, that kept me out of trouble.
I owe him a lot!


I think there should be more spanken and less government intrusion.




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"Are we at last brought to such an humiliating and debasing degradation that we cannot be trusted with arms for our own defense? Where is the difference between having our arms under our own possession and under our own direction, and having them under the management of Congress? If our defense be the real object of having those arms, in whose hands can they be trusted with more propriety, or equal safety to us, as in our own hands?"
- Patrick Henry
 
I wonder what the reaction would have been, if a citizen with a CCW had been on the scene and shot a couple of those girls? That would have been as righteous a shooting as they come. I hope the DA in Harris County doesn't make any deals.



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If what you know isn't what you do, then your training is incomplete.
 
...or better yet, what if the shop owner pulled out a revolver from under the counter and shot them? It would have been fully justified, and I would have supported the owner's decision to do so.
 
Sam...

Most of us here on TFL would likely support the shopkeeper, but you know the media, et all would crucify him for shooting those poor lil dears.

I honestly believe that many kids have absolutely no concept of the gravity of actions like this..by know means am I excusing them, they should be punished to the max...but it does seem that these kids seem genuinely surprised when they get into serious trouble.

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"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes" RKBA!
 
DC:
This brings up another question (and a few more).

Does it matter WHO the armed robbery suspect is, if you choose to defend yourself against armed robbery? Should it matter who it is?

What if you were a shopkeeper with a revolver hidden behind the counter, and someone decides to rob your store with a .380 auto pistol. That robber happens to be:
a: White blonde female in her teens
b: Black male in his teens
c: Elderly woman who looks like she's 90.
d: White male, heavy build, shaved head w/tatoos.
e: Hispanic male in white t-shirt w/hair net.
f: Asian male in business suit

Would you behave any differently when confronted with the same demand (basically, to empty out your register) and same gun pointed toward your chest cavity, by the different-looking suspects? Does the law demand us to act differently? SHOULD we act differently, for ethical, moral, religious, or for any other reason? Should the media care what the armed robbery suspects looked like? Are any of their lives any more or less valuable than any other?
I say no. I say anyone threatening my life and my livelihood with a gun has given up their civil liberties. The death of any armed robbery suspect should be treated equally as just that: The death of an armed robbery suspect.
 
I agree with the comments about children not seeming to know the gravity of what they are doing these days. I saw an MSNBC story this weekend about 4 boys in Ft. Myers Fl. who went on a crime spree, starting with vandalism and escalating to the murder of a school music teacher. Penalties ranged from 30 years for one boy, life for two and the death penalty for the shooter. The two boys they interviewed honestly seemed to believe they should not be punished that severely since they realized their 'mistake' and were sure not to do it again. "We are not regular criminals" to paraphrase a portion of their argument. When one of them suggested they kill the music teacher to cover their other crimes, none batted an eye.
 
This is one of the dumber stunts I've ever seen. Their naivete is either off the chart, or the sum total of all of their IQ's is less than 100. They are all lucky to be alive, and yes, they should pay big time for these stunts. Amazing.
 
Jeff, I saw the interview of the Ft. Myers boys. Per the words they commonly used in their speech, and some comments about them from the narrator, they are of above-average IQ.

High IQ and common sense do not necessarily go hand-in-hand...

Regards, art
 
I saw that MSNBC thing, too.

What amazed me was that the boys decided the teacher had to be killed cuz he (teacher) saw one of the kids at the school after hours...after a talk, the teacher said the boy would get a phone call from the principal come Monday. Sure doesn't seem that that statement would indicate the kid was in a particularly large amount of trouble. At that point, as well, there was nothing to connect the boys to their large vandalism spree.
Very strange and disheartening.

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"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes" RKBA!
 
Dang, Kingwood is just up the road from me.
I despise that place!

I could write you a book on the evil's of that place, but I'll keep it brief. The place is full of spoiled-brat kids and inattentive, financially well-off parents. Drugs, teenage pregnancy, and other teen age problems abound, but aren't talked about. 16 year-olds in brand new mustangs & camaros are all over the place. Things like this really rub this country-boy the wrong way.

It is no suprise to me that these kids chose crime over working. Real work is a totally foreign concept here.

Someone threatening me, or someone in my vicinity, is a target. (PERIOD)

Incendently, my girlfriend lived in Kingwood from the time she was six. Prior to that, she was born, and lived in in New Jersey (still has the accent :(). Anyway, the last six years we've been together have been a lot of work, but she's coming around. She's still a brat, but I am making progess. Who knows, in about 10-20 years she may even be suitable for polite society ;). I've still got a lot of work ahead of me ;) :D Just trying to do my part to make Texas, and the rest of the world, a better place.
 
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