FARMINGTON — A Texas teenager accused of stealing about $13,000 from a lockbox at a Jay residence in April 2015 was released into his mother’s custody Thursday.
The boy was 17 when the money was reported missing and turned 18 less than two months later.
He was being held at a Maine detention center since Feb. 10.
The former Jay teenager will be tried through the Juvenile Court system.
His attorney, Thomas Carey, told Judge Nancy Carlson that they planned to leave the case as a juvenile issue. Assistant District Attorney Joshua Robbins confirmed that after the court appearance.
A bind-over hearing to determine if the teen would be tried as an adult was scheduled for Thursday but did not take place.
The teenager of Sweeny, Texas, was arrested this year in Texas on a Jay Police Department warrant, charging felony burglary and theft. Jay police brought Small back to Maine in early February.
Judge Carlson ordered the teenager Thursday to abide by a daily curfew from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. and to live with a parent who is a Maine resident.
The exception to the curfew is if he is at work or traveling to and from employment, according to the conditions of release.
He also must abide by all rules of his parent, look for a job and report as directed to a juvenile community corrections officer. He is prohibited from having contact with the Jay family from whom the money was taken.
According to Jay Detective Michael Mejia’s affidavit in support of an arrest warrant, the couple was away on vacation when the money was reported missing by older family members on April 20, 2015. The money was being saved for a child’s college tuition, according to the affidavit.
After a lengthy investigation that included obtaining Facebook message records and conducting interviews, Mejia received a juvenile warrant in December 2015 that was signed by a Franklin County judge for the Texas teenager’s arrest.
Mejia charged a co-defendant in the case, Herbert Small, 20, who was formerly of Jay, in July 2015. Mejia said in a February news release that Small was serving a year at a Texas facility on an unrelated charge.
dperry@sunmediagroup.net
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