3 Teens (13,14,14) charged with 7 Bank Robberies

[thelefteyeguy]

**Well now at least teen crime in Toronto is not the only thing going National.***


Boys, 13 and 14, charged in bank heists
Trio suspected in seven bank holdups
B.C. robberies well-planned, executed
May 10, 2006. 05:33 AM

STEVE MERTL
CANADIAN PRESS


VANCOUVER—Three boys — two aged 14, the other 13 — were back at home with their parents yesterday after being charged with a string of seven bank robberies that has police and youth-crime experts shaking their heads.

"I've never seen anything like this before," said criminologist Ray Corrado of Simon Fraser University, whose research team has interviewed more than 700 serious and violent young offenders.

The holdups, staged without weapons, apparently were well-planned and executed over a large area, which shows considerable discipline, Corrado said in an interview yesterday.

"The typical youth that engages in this type of serious offence is often impulsive, opportunistic, angry and they typically talk a lot to their buddies and it gets out fairly quickly," he said. "Whereas this seems to have been almost a movie-like mimicking, where they planned and were able to carry it out much like you would see in a prime-time movie or something like that."

The three boys were arrested Saturday after a bank branch in suburban Surrey was held up.

One 14-year-old has been charged with two counts of bank robbery and one of obstructing a peace officer. The other two face one robbery count each.

But RCMP suspect the trio in as many as seven holdups in Surrey, Vancouver and suburban Burnaby over a six-week period, Cpl. Roger Morrow said. They apparently used Vancouver's elevated rapid-transit line to get to bank branches located near stations, and then flee afterward.

"The three were arrested at a SkyTrain location," Morrow said. "This was the method of transportation they were using to get from Surrey to Vancouver to Burnaby."

All three were released into the custody of their families and are due back in youth court on May 24. They have not registered pleas.

Tellers were handed a note in each of the robberies, Morrow said. None of the three Surrey residents has had previous dealings with police, he said.

Morrow said he was speechless when he was briefed on the robbery suspects.

"I still cannot for the life of me comprehend at the age of 13 ... ever considering doing something like this," he said.

Corrado speculated the three might have been living out some kind of adventure.

"Typically, what you find with teenagers and older children, they live often in a fantasy world of video games, movies," he said.

Even more unusual, they kept it up.

"They were able to carry it off successively, not just once or twice where you go, `OK, that was fun, that was a thrill,'" Corrado said. "The fact that they kept repeating it and moving around, not using a gun, it's very clever."

Corrado said he wouldn't be surprised if they were very bright kids, good students. Morrow said police weren't releasing details of the suspects but confirmed at least one boy was doing well in school.

"So it's not a typical case — this one kid, at least what I have been told — of being a schoolyard bully," he said.

Probably one of the boys was the leader, a risk-taker able to bring the others along, said Corrado. They likely didn't understand the real risks and saw the robberies as a game.

"I think you're looking at behaviour here that's more risk-adventure," he said. "If they were serious, they would have had guns."

No matter whom they face, banks treat all robbery attempts the same, said Paul Griffin, Western Canada director of the Canadian Bankers' Association.

"The primary concern is for the safety of the staff and the customers," he said. "That means essentially handing over some money quickly with as little incidents as possible to try to defuse the situation and resolve it and get whoever's involved out of the bank."

The young robbers apparently got away with small, undisclosed amounts of cash.

[MadCow]

Impressive. Most impressive.

Security guards at those banks must feel real chitty about the whole thing.

[Suzy Q]

"Typically, what you find with teenagers and older children, they live often in a fantasy world of video games, movies," he said.

Sounds like they're already blaming it on video games & violent movies. Why is it that nowadays kids can do whatever they want & people want to blame it on something other than the fact that they are just rotten children?

[Sash[DSL]]

Sounds like they're already blaming it on video games & violent movies. Why is it that nowadays kids can do whatever they want & people want to blame it on something other than the fact that they are just rotten children?

100% agreed. It's just like that episode of South Park about how parents wanted to cancel terrance and fillip show beacuse they figured it pollutes the minds of their kids. IMO Stan's monologue at the end is one of the deepest things Ive heard on tv, he says "If only our parents cared less about what we see on TV and more about what goes on in our lives"

[gmark2000]

Not video games. They're from Surrey which tells a lot.

[kennyt18]

God, why don't you parents teach your kids some morals/ethics/values already! I'm sick and tired of you mom's and dad's not doing your job.

[Yaowsers]

That's so cool.

When I was 13 I think I stole my cousins cabbage patch doll so I'd make her cry.

[ShadowVlican]

Sounds like they're already blaming it on video games & violent movies. Why is it that nowadays kids can do whatever they want & people want to blame it on something other than the fact that they are just rotten children?

i blame the parents for not teaching the kids

[EH100501AC]

Sounds like they're already blaming it on video games & violent movies. Why is it that nowadays kids can do whatever they want & people want to blame it on something other than the fact that they are just rotten children?

He wasn't blaming it on video games and movies. He was just saying that typically kids these days are usually just into playing video games and watching movies.

[Suzy Q]

He wasn't blaming it on video games and movies. He was just saying that typically kids these days are usually just into playing video games and watching movies.

I see what you saying, but this statement:

"Whereas this seems to have been almost a movie-like mimicking, where they planned and were able to carry it out much like you would see in a prime-time movie or something like that."

combined with this statement:

"Typically, what you find with teenagers and older children, they live often in a fantasy world of video games, movies," he said.

tells me different.

[Emancipated]

Sounds like they're already blaming it on video games & violent movies. Why is it that nowadays kids can do whatever they want & people want to blame it on something other than the fact that they are just rotten children?

Oh, you're one of those people who think the media should get a get out of jail card. Yes, those kids are rotten, but where did they get the inspiration from? Listen to rappers like 50 cent preaching words like "get rich or die trying" and you're telling me ther'es no effect? Please!

Not to mention the infamous Los Angelas bank robbering that mimicked almost perfectly the robbery scene in "Heat" with Robert De Niro and Al Pacino. Even the news media discovered that the bank robbers had watched the movie and were inspired by it.

[Suzy Q]

Oh, you're one of those people who think the media should get a get out of jail card. Yes, those kids are rotten, but where did they get the inspiration from? Listen to rappers like 50 cent preaching words like "get rich or die trying" and you're telling me ther'es no effect? Please!

Not to mention the infamous Los Angelas bank robbering that mimicked almost perfectly the robbery scene in "Heat" with Robert De Niro and Al Pacino. Even the news media discovered that the bank robbers had watched the movie and were inspired by it.

I'm not saying the media deserves a "get out of jail free card" but at 13 & 14 a person knows that robbing a bank is wrong whether they see it tv or not. And the people who generally blame the media are parents who are too busy or indifferent to pay attention to what their kids are doing.

[maebach]

It was on the cover of the toronto star today, beside the zhang murder trial.

[thug-life]

[QUOTE=Emancipated]Oh, you're one of those people who think the media should get a get out of jail card. Yes, those kids are rotten, but where did they get the inspiration from? Listen to rappers like 50 cent preaching words like "get rich or die trying" and you're telling me ther'es no effect? Please![QUOTE]
fcuk 50 cent hes a pussy ass gangster wanabe thinks hes all blood when he rolling with a crip now he thinks hes crip why would kids want to listen to those garbage fake rappers im like a rap master i no what kids listen to know

[cheeseshredder]

They may be rotten kids, but it's just idiotic to deny ANY violence in videogames and movies as factors. Just because you view them as nothing doesn't mean it has the same effect on everyone.

They may not be as huge a factor as the media claims, but some people act like it doesn't do anything to people's minds. I think that opinion stems from the fact that we're so used to it, we're reluctant to see something as harmful and in a sense, we do not want to be "wrong".