Wednesday, June 30, 1999
Teens sentenced in lemonade stand theft
Judge: Taking $6 stupid and cruel
BY STEVE KEMME
The Cincinnati Enquirer
HAMILTON — Two teen-aged boys learned Tuesday that the price for robbing a 9-year-old boy's lemonade stand is a lot steeper than the $6 they stole.
After the 16-year-old pleaded guilty to theft and the 17-year-old pleaded guilty to complicity to theft and a probation violation, a Butler County Juvenile Court magistrate fined them $200 each, suspended their driver's licenses for six months and ordered them to give back the $6, perform community service, and pay court costs and the attorney fees of the victim's family.
Magistrate Barbara Infantino also delivered stern lectures to each of the boys in their separate hearings.
“It's not just the $6 you and your co-defendant took,” she said to the 17-year-old. “You also took away the child's parents' feeling that their son is safe in his own yard. That's the worst part about this crime.”
Aaron Faughn was selling lemonade and Kool-Aid in front of his Liberty Township home on the afternoon of June 10 when two teen-agers in a car asked for change for a $10 bill. When Aaron took out the money he had earned that day, they grabbed it from him and drove away.
A Butler County sheriff's deputy who drove by saw Aaron crying at his stand and stopped to check on him.
The two boys were arrested three days after the robbery.
The crime provoked a strong public outcry and attracted national publicity. Members of the sheriff's department were so incensed about the crime, they offered a reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the robbers.
Corporations and individuals have donated more than $600 to Aaron, who plans to share the money with two friends who operate the lemonade stand with him, but who weren't there when the robbery occurred.
Aaron's mother, Debbie Faughn, said the penalties for the two teen-agers are fair.
“I'm happy with that punishment,” she said. “I think it will suffice. I think the community service will be good for them.”
She said Aaron was surprised at the harshness of the punishment and was satisfied with it.
For the past 15 days, the 17-year-old has been held in the Butler County Juvenile Detention Center, while his 16-year-old friend has been under house arrest.
Attorneys for both boys said the teen-agers realize what they did was wrong and are sorry.
“I just want to apologize to the court,” the 17-year-old said at his hearing.
His father said, “We apologize to the parents (of Aaron) and everyone else.”
Jeff Bowling, attorney for the 16-year-old, said the boy is extremely sorry for what he did.
“He has an overwhelming feeling of guilt and remorse,” Mr. Bowling said. “He thinks about this when he goes to bed at night and when he wakes up in the morning.”
Magistrate Infantino called the crime stupid and cruel.
She gave the 17-year-old 30 days in the juvenile detention center, but suspended his remaining 15 days so that he could return home Tuesday. She released the 16-year-old from house arrest.
The 17-year-old will serve 190 hours of community service for his school district this summer, and the 16-year-old will perform an undetermined number of hours of community service for his church.
The magistrate continued their probation and ordered them to have no contact with each other or with Aaron and his family.
“If you don't think before you act,” she told the 17-year-old, “you're going to find yourself in the adult criminal justice system and be in the Butler County Jail.”
The two boys also must participate in a victim-offender mediation program if Aaron and his parents want to take part in it. This program gives crime victims a chance to tell their offenders how their actions have made them suffer.
“Parents have the right to be able to feel that their children are safe,” Magistrate Infantino said to the 17-year-old. “You took away that right.”
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