Girl,14, Spends Mom’s $10,000 Life Savings

A 14-year-old girl stole her mother’s life savings--nearly $10,000 in cash--and with her friends spent all but $700 before being arrested, police said today.

The girl, whose name was not released, was charged Thursday with grand larceny, according to Detective Mumzell Pope-Dockery.

She said the girl’s spree included giving $500 to a person who gave her a ride to a shopping center and spending between $2,000 and $3,000 on drugs at a housing project.

Much of the money went to other youngsters who learned about the girl’s financial windfall and demanded a cut to keep it a secret, Pope-Dockery said.

Money Was Hidden

The girl found the money hidden in her mother’s house, police said. The woman told authorities she had scrimped and even sold her car in order to save the money.

Pope-Dockery said the girl confessed to the theft after learning that she might be fingerprinted and subjected to a lie detector test.

One youngster used some of the money to make a down payment on a motorcycle. Another got $2,500 from the girl, a brother-sister team received $1,100 and yet another person received $630, police said.

Nearly $2,000 of the money has been recovered, police said, and the individuals have been told that they will be charged with grand larceny if the rest is not repaid within a few days.