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Bank robber, 10, gets probation; accomplice's hearing continued
Friday, August 10, 2001 By Cindi Lash, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
After apologizing for her involvement in an attempt to rob a bank near her home, a 10-year-old Baldwin Borough girl was placed on probation for six months and ordered to perform 50 hours of community service.
In an appearance yesterday before Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Randy Todd in juvenile court, the tiny, ponytailed girl and her parents entered into a court-approved consent decree that also requires her to go to counseling and to adhere to a curfew. If she complies with those and other requirements, her criminal record will be expunged.
Her 13-year-old neighbor and co-defendant, however, must return to court next month. Her attorney, Jeffrey L. Pollock, asked to continue her hearing yesterday until Sept. 6 after prosecutors would not go along with his efforts to obtain a similar agreement for his client.
The girls were charged with robbery and conspiracy July 20 after they tried to stick up a PNC Bank branch on Curry Hollow Road. Wearing towel turbans on their heads and socks pulled up to their elbows to avoid leaving fingerprints, the girls walked into the bank, passed a note to a teller saying they had a gun and demanded $2,000 in cash.
At first, the girls told bank workers that they were being forced to hold up the bank by an armed man who was waiting outside. But after tellers locked them in the bank and called police, they admitted to police that they'd planned the heist themselves to buy clothing, book bags and other merchandise they'd picked out and stashed in a nearby Value City store.
In an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the 13-year-old's father later said that his daughter participated in the holdup attempt because she'd heard him wishing aloud that his finances were more stable and because she wanted to help him pay for her school clothes.
Accompanied by parents and relatives, the girls came to court yesterday wearing neat, nearly identical outfits of white T-shirts -- the 10-year-old's stenciled with the word "Princess" -- black slacks, chunky shoes and ponytails trimmed with beads and bows.
Their eyes were downcast and they took turns burying their heads on their parents' shoulders outside the courtroom. The 10-year-old looked even younger than her years after she warded off the chilly air conditioning by huddling inside a court employee's borrowed gray suit coat that hung nearly to her knees.
The proceedings were closed and the girls' parents hustled them out of court without comment. But attorneys for both girls sought to reach agreements that would allow their records to be eventually wiped clean.
"I don't want to say a lot about it because I don't want to make a big deal about it," said Paul D. Boas, attorney for the younger girl. "Yes, the charges are serious and yes, she's aware [of that.] But she's only 10 years old."
Boas declined further comment.
Baldwin Borough Police Chief Christopher Kelly said he was satisfied with the terms of the younger girl's agreement because it required her to acknowledge her participation in the attempted robbery.
"It's a serious thing here," Kelly said, "but there's really no other mechanism in place to deal with a 10-year-old girl."
The terms of the 10-year-old's consent decree require her to complete probation without committing other offenses, to perform community service, to refrain from impulsive behavior and to enter counseling. If requested, she must cooperate with prosecutors handling her co-defendant's case and must stay away from her co-defendant and the bank.
She also must obey a 6 p.m. curfew but will be allowed to stay out later to attend dance classes if necessary.
Pollock said he believes the 13-year-old girl should get the same treatment, including the opportunity to have her record expunged. But he said prosecutors refused to enter into a similar consent decree with his client, arguing instead that she should be held more accountable because she is older and more mature.
After Pollock and Assistant District Attorney Jarrod Caruso failed to reach an agreement on a consent decree, Todd then began a hearing and took testimony from a bank teller. Pollock then asked for a continuance, saying he needed more time to prepare his defense and to arrange for the 13-year-old to undergo a psychological evaluation.
Caruso could not be reached after the hearing. But Pollock said the teller testified that the 10-year-old presented the hand-printed holdup note, professed to have a gun in her pocket and claimed that a man outside was masterminding the robbery.
"The bank teller's testimony puts the vast majority of the actions on the 10-year-old. Just because my client is three years older does not mean she should automatically be treated three times more harshly," he said. "My client [wanted] this to be over [yesterday] but not at the expense of her entire future."
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