A Maryland teenager was arrested by police after he allegedly broke into an astonishing 121 vehicles in a single night. Now, the 16-year-old is facing a slew of charges as the Laurel Police Department continues to investigate the May 4 incident. 54 of those 121 thefts occurred in Laurel alone.
When he was arrested, police say the teen was in possession of numerous credit cards, over two dozen vehicle keys and several stolen items. They're now looking to identify the rightful owners of the stolen property and return it to them, according to an official statement posted on the Department's Facebook page. Police also say they've identified two of the teen's accomplices, and they're now slated to be arrested. Police aren't releasing the kid's name since he's a minor, but they say he'll face charges of motor vehicle theft as well as multiple counts of theft from an automotive.
The teen's age, lack of a prior record and the fact they hadn't committed a violent crime means he's probably not going to be punished too badly for his alleged crimes. Speaking at a press conference that was also posted on Facebook, Police Cheif Russ Hamill said the kid only spent five hours in custody before he was ordered to be released by the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services.
Police clearly weren't too thrilled with this decision. Hamill spent most of the conference talking about why the teen's punishment wasn't enough.
"I know many consider this a lower-level crime, but I urge people to remember that each of these crimes adversely affects someone or an entire family. It may seem like a lower level crime unless the vehicle that was stolen or broken into was your only way to get to work to support your family — it was your only means of transportation to get a family member to needed medical care or to get your children to the critical after school programs they do," Hamill said during the conference.
Hamill went on to say that he had "little hope" there would be further accountability for him because of the "broken system." Of course, he's been changed with all of these crimes, so there's still the possibility that he faces some very serious consequences, but Hamill doesn't think that's going to happen.
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