Two Teen Group Home Residents Arrested for Robbery

“Four court-adjudicated residents of Adelphoi Village in Latrobe carried out a plan to rob a convenience store of cash and cigarettes Jan. 7, according to Latrobe police.

Two of the court-ordered wards at the Margaret House, James D. Moore Jr. and Tyrece L. Owens, are 18 and were charged as adults with the robbery of the Sunoco station at 600 James St., according to court documents. They also are charged with theft, receiving stolen property and criminal conspiracy before District Judge Michael Mahady.

Two other residents, one 16 and the other 17, will be cited in juvenile court, police said.

Adelphoi Village, based in Latrobe, operates 22 group homes for youths who are court-adjudicated or placed there by the children and youth services agencies in their home counties.

Court records indicate Moore and Owens are from Delaware County.

Police allege in an affidavit of probable cause that Moore and two of the others walked to the store in the early evening of Jan. 7 and “began talking on the way back about how easy it would be to rob the station because no one is around,” Officer Matthew Reeves wrote in an affidavit of probable cause.

Moore later told Reeves in an interview that the three went back to the group home in the 1700 block of Lincoln Avenue and recruited Owens, who acted as a lookout during the theft.

The four returned to the store at 9:41 p.m. and three of the teens went inside, covering their faces with bandanas, and robbed the female clerk of $130 from the cash drawer and 34 packs of cigarettes.

Moore and Owens are being held in the county prison on $25,000 and $10,000 bond, respectively, pending a preliminary hearing.

Adelphoi spokeswoman Karyn Pratt said the Margaret House is one of three houses among the 22 in the program designed as independent living facilities for youths.

“The program at Margaret Home is an independent living program. It is one of our programs designed for someone who has successfully completed intensive supervision group home program,” she said.

She said the goal of the program is to prepare youths for independent living and to live on their own in the future so they can leave the facility to attend school, go to work “or both.”

Pratt admitted disappointment at the arrests.

“Obviously our goal is for our youth to succeed in the community. … We have been cooperating with investigation and will continue to do so,” she said.”

Teen residents of Adelphoi group home charged with robbing Latrobe store

[Trib Live 1/18/18 by Paul Peirce]

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