Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Serving Lincoln County for more than a century!
Window was smashed to obtain vapes
Wayne J. White was sentenced in the June robbery of Reardan Store.
REARDAN - A Minnesota boy is serving three days in juvenile detention this week after pleading guilty to burglarizing Reardan Store.
Wayne J. White, 12, of Hancock, Minn., was sentenced Sept. 24 after pleading guilty in Lincoln County Superior Court to second-degree burglary, third-degree theft and second-degree malicious mischief.
He was ordered to serve 3 days in juvenile detention, starting Sept. 24. He was also sentenced to 7 additional days to be served at the discretion of juvenile officials.
In addition, he was sentenced to $900 in restitution and four months of community supervision. He was ordered to provide a DNA sample for the criminal database and is prohibited from possession a firearm.
White will appear in court again at 1:30 p.m. Nov. 9, when the court will consider sealing his court records.
According to court documents, White was arrested June 10 following the burglary of Reardan Store, also known as "R-Store," at 140 S. Lake St.
The boy was spending the month here with his grandparents and other family members, records show.
Court records show a person wearing a hoody smashed the window of the store at 1:41 a.m. June 9, and spent less than two minutes inside stealing multiple vapes. The incident was reported by store employees coming to work at 8 a.m. that morning.
Investigators found muddy footprints as well as fingerprints inside the store, records show. The person - later identified as White - was caught on camera wearing a hoody and backpack that were later found in the possession of his family.
White allegedly had two accomplices, who stayed outside and watched the incident, records show.
A family member notified police of the boys' involvement, records show, noting two of the boys threatened to smash the third boy's knee caps if he didn't participate.
Investigators collected evidence and interviewed the families, and identified White as the boy who smashed the window to steal vapes.
Family members located several empty vape boxes and wrappers for police, and ultimately the actual vapes were recovered from inside an unfinished attic wall, records show. In all, 31 vapes at a value of $679.61 were stolen from the store, records show.
In addition, investigators were provided with screen shots of texts in which at 3:13 a.m. one of the boys said "we robbed the store."
White was allowed to return to his hometown in June, but his family had to return him to Lincoln County for court proceedings.
Roger Harnack is the owner/publisher of Free Press Publishing. Having grown up Benton City, Roger is an award-winning journalist, photographer, editor and publisher. He's one of only two editorial/commentary writers from Washington state to ever receive the international Golden Quill. Roger is dedicated to the preservation of local media, and the voice it retains for Eastern Washington.
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