Three 14-year-olds charged with felony grand theft after stealing car

Palm Coast Observer
News

Three 14-year-old boys stole a car in the early morning hours of June 21 after the owner left the car unlocked with a key in the glovebox. Deputies caught the boys and contacted the car's owner to return it before he'd even realized it was missing.

“This is a great example of deputies observing suspicious activity and investigating,” Flagler County Sheriff Rick Staly said. “A deputy saw a suspicious car, investigated it, and the result is a stolen car being returned to a resident before they even realized it was stolen! I hope these three juveniles learn from this experience and can turn their lives around. To our residents, I would like to remind them to please take all your valuables and keys out of your vehicles, lock your car doors and help prevent crime so you don’t become a victim! To parents, know where your children are and what they are doing, especially late and night and in the early morning hours. Be the Sheriff in your home.”

Deputies had noticed the car in Holland Park at about 3 a.m. and approached it as a "suspicious vehicle."

There are three 14-year-old boys in the car, and they could not explain how they got the car or whose car it was.

The boys later admitted that they'd been walking around in the area of Cole Place when they found the 2010 Toyota Corolla flocked, with the keys left inside.

They said they had decided to steal the car and drove on Palm Coast Parkway North towards the Island Walk Shopping Center, where they saw an FCSO patrol vehicle and turned into the parking lot at Holland Park to avoid detection.

Deputies detained the boys and contacted the car's registered owner, who confirmed that the car was stolen from his driveway. He acknowledged that he'd left a valet key in the car's car's glove box and had not locked his car doors.

The three teens were arrested and transported to the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility for processing. All three were charged with felony Grand Theft of a Motor Vehicle. They were later ordered to be released to the custody of their parents by the Department of Juvenile Justice.

“DJJ is broken and needs to get tough on these offenders,” added Sheriff Staly. “Get tough today so they don’t live a life of crime as an adult. The DJJ catch-and-immediately-release policies are not a deterrent for delinquent behavior.”