Crime & Safety

Arrests Made in Late Night 7-Eleven 'Group Theft'

Police said theft charges are pending against 14 youths and three adults.

Misdemeanor theft charges are pending against 17 young people for their alleged involvement in the highly publicized group theft at a 7-Eleven in Germantown.

Montgomery County Police Cmd. Luther Reynolds briefed reporters Friday outside the 5th District station in Germantown, where Montgomery County State's Attorney John McCarthy and Councilman Craig Rice, D-district 2, also fielded questions.

 “I was outraged at what I saw on that video clip,” Reynolds said Friday. He later characterized the suspects as “good kids who haven’t had any involvement with the police.”

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During the press conference, McCarthy said his office plans to file theft, conspiracy to commit theft and disorderly conduct charges against 14 juveniles and three adults who police identified on surveillance footage from the 7-Eleven at 13001 Wisteria Drive, where at around 1:50 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 13, a group of youths allegedly arrived in unison, took nearly $450 worth of snacks and left without paying.

 

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Separating suspects from people who just happened to be there

The identities of the adults — an 18-year-old, a 19-year-old, and a 20-year-old — were not released because the charges were still pending. Police do not release names of juveniles.

While 25 people are visible on the tape, police were able to identify 18 of them — including a female who investigators have since determined was not involved in the theft and will not be charged.

“She actually went in the store, paid for her food, without doing anything wrong,” Reynolds said.

Montgomery County Police spokesman Cpt. Paul Starks said it was unclear whether the seven unidentified people were involved with the theft and that police are still trying to ID those suspects.

Reynolds said the suspects facing theft charges were from all over Montgomery County.

The incident was initially dubbed a "flash mob" theft, though the social media component seems to have been missing from the Germantown case — which McCarthy took time to reiterate Friday. Police believe that the suspects may have hatched the scheme earlier that night at the Montgomery County Agricultural Fair, before catching the last bus to Germantown.

Reynolds said police extracted individual photos from the 7-Eleven footage. Positive IDs were made after investigators turned to Germantown area's in-school police and from tips from area principals and other community leaders.

Police posted the footage on their YouTube channel two days later, which has since tallied more than 140,000 views and caught the attention of national news outlets.

 

Would a youth curfew prevent group thefts … or should there be more police officers in schools?

The so-called “flash-mob” theft has revived the debate over County Executive Isiah Leggett’s youth curfew proposal. Leggett has said the incident was proof for why such a law was needed.

During the press conference, Reynolds said a youth curfew might have prevented the group theft. Councilman Rice, who initially seemed to be leaning toward opposition, seemed to be leaning toward being in favor of a youth curfew.

 “I still have some reservations about it,” Rice said Friday, “but I could tell you right now my police department has identified this as something that they need in order to address some of the problems that they’re seeing and because of that, I think we need to support the police department and give them the tools that are necessary.”

Susan Burkinshaw was among a group of parents cloistered behind TV cameras and journalists during the press conference. Burkinshaw, who is a Germantown resident, said she’s not sure a curfew is the right way to go.

She said if anything, the incident showed why more school resource officers were needed in Montgomery County’s high schools.

“Having the curfew may give the police another tool to get the kids off the streets on one hand,” said Burkinshaw, who chairs the Montgomery County Council of Parent Teacher Associations’’ health and safety committee. “On the other hand, I think it’s more important to teach the kids to make the right decisions in the first place so we don’t need to have a curfew.”

The School Resource Officer program began in 2003 with 32 officers under a $4 million grant. Due to budget cuts and haggling between the school board and the county council, the program has been reduced to six officers who split their time among the county’s high schools.

School Board Member Michael A. Durso, who attended Friday’s press conference, said afterward that even though the school board and the county council couldn’t agree on how to pay for the program, he’d like to see more school resource officers in schools.

“You create an atmosphere where young people have someone to talk about these sorts of things,” Durso said. “It’s not going to eliminate poor decisions, but I think in many cases it might help our young people think twice about their decisions.” 


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