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13-year-old kept in juvenile detention for two violent robberies

SEATTLE, Wash — A 13-year-old boy has been ordered to stay in juvenile detention after he pleaded not guilty to being involved in two violent robberies.

In the first case, he is accused of being part of a group that robbed and brutally beat a security guard in Westlake Park in mid-July.

He is also accused of theft and assault in a similar case in mid-August, not far from the location of the first incident.

Joey Crudo is the security guard attacked in the first incident. He said he remembers trying to stop a theft in progress. But the group of people stealing turned on him.

He said 13-year-old Dajohntae Richard reached for his wallet in his back pocket.

“I was shocked to see, when I turned around that someone was grabbing my wallet, how young he was. And again, I felt the same way today in the courtroom,” Crudo said.

Crudo said that the boy looked at him in the courtroom.

“I felt kind of strange when he looked at me. He didn't look at me like I was the victim of a crime. He looked at me like I was the one victimizing him. And that made me feel really bad. It was a 'you did this to me' kind of look. And I know I didn't,” Crudo said.

The charging document stated that Richard and another suspect had laughed at the victims when one of them fell of his skateboard. Police said that the suspects then beat and robbed the group of victims.

The document states: “[Victim] said he observed Richard kicking [victim] several times in the head before he turned his attention to [second victim] and started kicking [second victim].”

The judge said that she would detain “this young man as a danger to the community,” keeping him in juvenile detention until his pre-trial appearance Oct. 17.

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