LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – A teen is accused of committing four armed robberies in the Las Vegas area while he was on probation in California.
He was 15 years old at the time of the alleged crimes, the 8 News Now Investigators have learned.
The teen, now 16, appeared in juvenile court in Las Vegas on Sept. 11.
Clark County District Court Judge Sunny Bailey ruled that the teen will now be charged in the adult criminal justice system.
8 News Now is not identifying the teen at the time of this report because the adult charges were not yet available in public records.
“The offenses were extremely serious,” Judge Bailey said as she announced her decision to certify the teen as an adult.
The teen is accused of committing three armed robberies at CVS pharmacies on Feb. 8 at Las Vegas, Henderson, and North Las Vegas locations.
He is accused of returning to one of the locations on July 8 to rob it again.
“This is an ongoing operation: planned and orchestrated and is extraordinarily serious and dangerous to this community and absolutely merits a certification to the adult system,” Clark County Chief Deputy District Attorney Kimberly Adams said.
Adams held up photos showing the prescription drugs which she said were stolen. This included fentanyl, Adderall, and OxyContin, according to Adams.
“In addition to all of these poor people working at the pharmacies, trying to earn a living who are robbed at gunpoint, we then have all of this being put out on the community where these people could easily die of overdoses on all of these drugs that are being put in the system and sold,” Adams said.
She described the teen “to be someone who threatens, steals, and terrorizes innocent working people to get what he wants.”
Bailey announced the 24 felony counts the teen faced which included robbery with use of a deadly weapon, conspiracy to commit robbery, burglary while in possession of a firearm or other deadly weapon, first-degree kidnapping, attempted robbery with use of a deadly weapon, and burglary.
Investigators tracked down the teen through a tracker that was in the stolen medication from July 8, Bailey read from a report. She also said that he was not supposed to be in the state of Nevada due to a condition of his probation stating he could not be more than 10 miles from his home in the Sacramento, California area.
Bailey listed details of the teen’s criminal history at the certification hearing which included conspiracy to commit a crime which he received probation for in California in 2021. That same year, he received probation for illegal possession of a weapon and live ammunition and then in 2022, he received probation for carrying a loaded gun in public, Bailey said.
Last February, the teen was accused of participating in an armed robbery at a CVS pharmacy in Seattle, Washington.
Mandy McKellar, the teen’s defense attorney, argued against placing the teen in the adult system. She listed factors including drug abuse, the teen’s fourth-grade level in school, and the influence of those around him including adults.
“I think that his co-conspirators are a big factor in his poor judgment and the negative peer associations even with family members could be something that we could work on in the juvenile system,” McKellar said.
A woman who identified herself as the teen’s mother was present at the hearing and appeared to be emotional. The mother works long hours and said that she was unaware that her son had left the state, Bailey said.
The teen said that he had planned to get a job to support his newborn, according to Bailey.
The teen is expected to be relocated from a juvenile detention center to an adult jail.
