Authorities try to assess theft

August 14, 1997

By MARLO BARNHART

Staff Writer

A 17-year-old Allegany County youth who admitted stealing money from Oak Hill House was allowed to return home Wednesday while juvenile authorities try to determine how much was taken.

The teen told Washington County Circuit Judge Kennedy Boone he got between $200 and $300 from the Sept. 27, 1996, theft, insisting he was one of two or three other boys involved.

But Officer Robert Martin of the Westernport Police Department testified he questioned the teen in Allegany County two days after the theft and he admitted taking $1,200 from the Oak Hill House near Clear Spring.

"He told me he bought gas and food with the rest of the money,'' Martin said.

Martin said the teen was apprehended in a van he stole when he ran away from the halfway house two days earlier.

There was beer in the van including an open can, Martin said. The teen had a blood alcohol level of .06 when he was stopped at 1:50 a.m. Sept. 29, 1996, Martin said.

Except for his initial statement that he only took a few hundred dollars, the teen offered no testimony Wednesday.

His mother told Boone her son was sent to the Victor Cullen Academy in Sabillasville for seven months after he was apprehended. He has been home with her in Allegany County since May.

"He's working two jobs now and undergoing drug counseling," the mother told Boone.

Disposition was delayed and the teen was allowed to return home with his mother. Efforts also will be made to determine exactly how much money was stolen.

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