Melvin Harris should be in school with the rest of his teen friends. But Monday, he appeared before a judge in adult court on aggravated robbery charges with his mom by his side.
The 14-year-old is accused of being the one caught on surveillance video holding a gun to two women working at Clermont’s Dollar General in November. The robbers stuffed more than $1,000 in gift bags with Mickey Mouse on them. Afterwards, the pair apparently went on a doughnut run.
Deputies got a tip about Harris and 17-year-old Kordell Oliver at the Donut King in Minneola. They were seen transferring wads of money and a gun into their doughnut bag.
When deputies pulled up, the teens ran. They were captured with money stuffed in their underwear.
Department of Juvenile Justice data released Wednesday for the state of Florida shows juvenile felony arrests dropped 17 percent last year, while 36 percent fewer cases were sent to adult court.
Lake County State Attorney Walter Forgie is still calculating how many teens were charged as adults in his county last year. He said he takes the severity of the crime, suspect’s criminal history and age into account when deciding whether to charge someone as an adult.
Forgie said 14-year-olds standing before a judge in adult court are rare, but not unheard of.
“They ought to take him and put him in prison," Dollar General customer Jim Sidell said. "He’s old enough to know.”
“Most of the robbery and crime that’s happening is because these kids are just bored, nothing else to do so they figure it’s fun to go rob this place, that place and brag about it to their friends,” Tony Urquhart said.
Because of his age, Harris isn’t being held in jail while he awaits trial. Instead, he’s home with his mom.