Three boys, ages 11, 12 and 16, and dubbed the “Little Rascals,” were recently arrested after being turned in by their parents for robbing a Houston bank.
Most kids spend their spring break from school playing video games, watching TV, or hanging on with their friends, but three Houston juveniles decided to put their free time to better use by robbing a local bank. Police claim that the three boys walked into a Wells Fargo bank in the Greenspoint area of north Houston on March 14, passed a threatening note to a teller, and managed to get away on foot with an undisclosed amount of money. When police arrived and checked the surveillance footage, they were shocked to see that the bank robbers were incredibly young.
“The age of the younger two, that’s unusual for a bank robbery, it’s one of the first times I’ve seen that,” Mike Schneider, a retired juvenile district court judge, told ABC13. “I was thinking either this was very low in sophistication or maybe an adult had something to do with this. That is not uncommon.”
Police have yet to reveal if anyone else was involved in the bizarre heist, but for now the three “little rascals” are charged with robbery by threat, a second-degree felony. If proven guilty, they could face probation until they turn 18 or juvenile prison until they turn 19, according to one criminal defense attorney.
According to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, although the three juvenile bank robbers, ages 11, 12 and 16, did not present a gun during the heist, from the note they passed the teller, they were believed to be armed.
After checking the bank cameras, the FBI started putting up posters that read “Recognize these ‘Little Rascals?’ Believe it or not, they just robbed a bank.” Shortly after the photos of the three perpetrators were released, the parents of the two youngest boys came forward and turned their sons in. The 16-year-old was recognized after getting into an unrelated fight and handled by a law enforcement agency.
“There’s nothing light-hearted about this crime,” former FBI investigator Bill Daly told Inside Edition. “If police were to get into the bank, no matter how young a perpetrator might be, if they posed a threat to them, something bad could happen.”
