What were you up to when you were 12 years old? I think I was probably either spending my days playing Runescape inside or trying my hand at cricket on the field outside my house on the odd day that it was sunny in the UK. I can safely say that I wasn’t being charged with nearly 90 criminal offenses following a string of car break-ins across Georgia, that’s for sure.
This is the predicament one tween in the state is facing after lawmakers arrested a 12-year-old boy and charged him with 89 offenses following a reported spate of car thefts in Griffin, Georgia. The boy, who has not been named by authorities due to his age, was taken into custody by police on Wednesday and has been charged with 84 counts of entering auto and an additional five counts of criminal trespass, local news station Fox5 reports.
The boy was arrested earlier this week after a string of businesses in the region reported car thefts over the past month. The businesses involved in the case each had video surveillance cameras that captured the boy breaking into the cars, which helped lawmakers identify the child.
According to authorities, the boy “hit dozens of vehicles along the North Expressway Corridor,” over a period of a month. As a result of the sheer number of break-ins, police in the area added that more charges could still be filed against the child.
In the state of Georgia, you are not an adult for the purpose of criminal prosecution until you reach the age of 17. However across the state, the minimum age for criminal prosecution is 13, meaning that the child in this case could be prosecuted by the state for their actions.