9-Year-Olds Plead Guilty to Burglary
Two 9-year-old Sepulveda boys arrested in a series of residential burglaries after one got stuck in a chimney pleaded guilty to burglary Tuesday and were returned to Sylmar Juvenile Hall to await sentencing on Feb. 11.
The boys, who told police that they committed the crimes to pay for video games, left the courtroom in tears after Sylmar Juvenile Court Commissioner Jack Gold refused to release them to their families. Gold noted that the boys had been arrested twice in three days. He ordered a probation report.
“You know it’s wrong to steal, don’t you?” Deputy Dist. Atty. Marguerite McKinney asked the boys in court.
“Yes, ma’am,” both answered quietly.
The pair, fourth-grade classmates at Plummer Elementary School, are believed by police to have stolen cash, clothing and other items in seven residential break-ins in their Sepulveda neighborhood from Dec. 19 to Jan. 14.
It was on the latter date that firefighters had to extricate one boy from the chimney of a home after his friend called for help on a police emergency line.
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