3.15.2007

define "rehabilitation"

13-Year-Old Faces 128 Felony Counts

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March 14,2007 | NELSONVILLE, Ohio -- A 13-year-old boy is charged in juvenile court with 128 felonies in what police call a small-town crime spree.

The boy, in juvenile detention pending a pretrial hearing later this month, faces delinquency counts of burglary, theft, vandalism and witness intimidation.

"In my 30 years of doing this, I've never had a juvenile that young with so many charges," Athens County Prosecutor C. David Warren said Tuesday.

Police accuse the boy of breaking into homes and businesses in Nelsonville, a small, rural town 55 miles southeast of Columbus, and of stealing checks from elderly residents, Warren said.

He also is accused of beating one of the witnesses who turned him in, Warren said.

At least three other youths, one of them 10 years old, also have been charged, Warren said.

The boy could be freed at 21 even if he is convicted of all 128 counts, prosecutors said.

"We either get him rehabilitated now in the juvenile system or we will be dealing with him for the rest of his life," Warren said.

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