KOOTENAI COUNTY, Idaho – A teenager has been sentenced to two years of probation after a three-year span of criminal activity in Idaho communities.
The spree of crimes began in September 2021, when the teen was placed in a diversion program after punching another student in middle school. He was 13 years old at the time.
Diversion was used in an attempt to avoid giving the teen a criminal record, but he failed to comply with the conditions and was charged with battery.
In December 2021, police were surveying an area where auto-burglaries had been reported and found the teen and three others, who fled but were arrested later.
Police learned that a gun was stolen during one of the car thefts. The teen admitted to stealing it, but the gun was not recovered at that time.
The teen was charged with unlawful entry, theft, and disturbing the peace in March 2022.
The day after the teen was arrested, police searched the teen’s house looking for the stolen gun. They were told by the teen’s father that he had turned over the gun to his attorney.
Police contacted the attorney and retrieved the gun, leading to the teen being charged with minor in possession of a weapon.
In June 2022, the teen was sentenced to a one-year informal probation for his charges.
In August 2022, the teen was involved in an incident where he pointed a gun at two other teens and discharged the weapon twice.
During the investigation into the incident, the teen lied about his involvement and hid the gun. Police later found the gun and learned of his involvement, and he was charged with assault, discharge of a weapon, and minor in possession of a weapon.
In December 2022, the teen was recommended to be placed in juvenile detention but was instead placed on a three-year formal probation.
At a party in October 2023, the now 15-year-old was found unresponsive and was taken to the hospital by his father. Once he arrived at the hospital, he fought with hospital staff and his father, prompting a police response.
Officers made contact with the teen and observed that he was intoxicated and had resisted restraints from hospital staff and his father.
Police later learned that the teen had grabbed a hospital staff member by the neck twice and squeezed tightly when they attempted to restrain him.
The teen was charged with battery and public intoxication.
In April 2024, the teen was involved in another set of car burglaries in which he and two others were stealing items out of unlocked cars. Officers found that the teen had stolen another gun in this string of robberies as well.
During a robbery, the teen accidentally discharged the gun while playing with it, hitting a truck’s windshield.
The teen was arrested and charged with grand theft of a firearm, grand theft of stolen property, burglary, and criminal conspiracy.
At his hearing for these new charges, the Kootenai County Prosecutor’s Office again recommended placing him in juvenile detention, but he was instead placed on a two-year formal probation.
