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Teen robber headed to treatment center

Boy, 14, used gun in holdup

A 14-year-old boy is headed to a residential treatment facility after he admitted to robbing a Butler Township drugstore in March.

Butler County President Judge Thomas Doerr on Friday ordered the teen undergo specialized counseling at Adelphoi Village’s facility in Connellsville, Fayette County.

Adelphoi Village is a secure counseling and educational treatment facility for children with emotional or behavioral problems.

In selecting the facility for the Butler Township boy’s placement, Doerr followed the recommendations of juvenile probation officials, Assistant District Attorney Russ Karl and defense lawyer Patrick Casey.

The judge announced his decision at the boy’s disposition hearing, which is similar to sentencing in adult court. Two weeks earlier, the boy in Doerr’s court acknowledged he held up the Walgreens store on New Castle Street.

Butler Township police said the boy on March 12 entered the store and showed a clerk what appeared to be a handgun. He made off with cartons of cigarettes.

The firearm, it turned out, was an Airsoft gun. No one was injured.

Police arrested the boy six days later. He was charged with robbery, theft and simple assault.

At his April 15 pre-adjudication conference, he admitted to a charge of robbery, which is the equivalent to a guilty plea in adult court. In exchange, prosecutors withdrew the lesser charges.

Juvenile court proceedings are typically closed to the public, but the boy’s case fell under an exception since he was at least 14 at the time of the incident and one of his crimes — robbery — is a felony.

Since his arrest, the teen has been at the Keystone Adolescent Center in Mercer County.

Jodi Pugh, a juvenile probation officer, told Doerr that the move to Adelphoi Village would allow the boy to receive behavioral modification counseling similar to “strength-based therapy.”

That kind of therapy “emphasizes making the right choices and good decisions,” Casey said following the proceedings.

The counseling technique also encourages children to seek positive role models to emulate. Casey said his client would receive 24 weeks of therapy.

Pugh noted that during his placement, the boy will also be required to do a minimum of 25 hours of community service.

Under the juvenile court system, the boy can remain in court supervision until he reaches 21. Doerr will periodically review his progress

The teen’s next hearing will discuss his first 12 or 13 weeks at Adelphoi Village.

“See you in three months,” Doerr told the boy, “and I want a good report.”

The teen’s parents are divorced. His father attended Friday’s court session; his mother did not. Before his arrest the boy lived with his father and grandmother, who also attended the proceedings.

Two other boys, including the robber’s older brother, on April 15 admitted in juvenile court they helped plan the crime. Those other boys, 14 and 16, also shared in the stolen cigarettes.

The two accomplices, who each admitted to a charge of receiving stolen property, are back with their families and both are wearing court-ordered electronic monitoring devices.

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