Teens sent to Victor Cullen

July 03, 1997

By MARLO BARNHART

Staff Writer

Two of three teens implicated in the May 1 robbery and assault of a Chinese food delivery worker were committed to the Victor Cullen School Wednesday by Washington County Circuit Judge John H. McDowell.

A bench warrant was issued for the third youth who failed to appear in court Wednesday.

The two teens who did appear both admitted to the robbery and an unrelated misdemeanor theft. The two 15-year-olds will be held at the Noyes Detention Center in Rockville until beds are available at Victor Cullen.

Washington County State's Attorney Kenneth Long lobbied for detention, describing the incident as "indifferent to the rights of other people."

McDowell noted that both boys have had extensive contact with the Department of Juvenile Justice.

All three boys originally were charged with robbery, attempted robbery, conspiracy to commit robbery, theft and second-degree assault.

The 17-year-old victim, Jian Hong Jiang, told police he was delivering more than $100 worth of food from China Gourmet restaurant in the Ames Shopping Center.

When he arrived in the 1100 block of West Church Street at 9 p.m., two juveniles approached him, he told police.

One teen allegedly punched him in the face and took the food and both boys ran away to the third teen's location.

The victim yelled to neighbors for help and they called 911, police said. Then he followed his attackers and with the help of the police and the "smell" of the Chinese food, the teens were located in a basement nearby.

The misdemeanor theft incidents occurred April 30 when the two teens apparently started a fire near the Washington County Association for Retarded Citizens complex in the 800 block of Florida Avenue.

They went into several ARC buses and removed fire extinguishers, using them to put out the fire, Long said.

They also sprayed the extinguishers inside the buses and took several radios which later were recovered, Long said.

Restitution was set at about $172 for each boy.

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