Lunch Money Bandit Busted, Cops Say

CLEARWATER, FL — The Clearwater Police Department has announced the arrest of a 16-year-old boy in connection with a Monday morning robbery that left a 10-year-old without his lunch money. Unfortunately for the teen accused, police say they caught up with him while he was trying to break into a car Tuesday evening.

The case against the Clearwater High School student began to develop Monday morning as a 10-year-old Skycrest Elementary School student was walking to class. It seems the boy, who isn’t being identified by police, was counting out his lunch money while he was walking in the area of Rainbow Drive and Comet Avenue.

The teenager is accused of walking up behind the boy and snatching the money straight out of his hands.

Police responded to the crime not only by seeking out the culprit, but also treating the little victim to lunch. Four officers showed up at Skycrest elementary on Tuesday with a sandwich, chips and a Clearwater Police Department patch for the boy.

“Nobody takes a kid’s lunch money,” Cpl. Chris Ziermann explained. “We wanted to make this right.”

As Ziermann and the trio of other officers where making it right with the little boy, the resource officer at Clearwater High School was hard at work developing a suspect in the case, an email from the police department said. Officer Josh Jewett developed a suspect in the case and the little boy picked out the accused robber from a photo lineup, the department said.

With a suspect name in hand, officers went out looking for the boy.

“The suspect was taken into custody this evening while trying to break into a car as officers searched for him,” the police department wrote in a Tuesday night email to media.

The teen, who isn’t being identified by police, now faces robbery by sudden snatching and vehicle burglary charges. He was booked into the Pinellas County juvenile detention facility Tuesday night.

No further information is available at this time.

Photo of the patch Clearwater Police brought the young victim courtesy of the police department.