3 of 4 juveniles arrested after trying to break into local gun shop were wearing ankle bracelets

MARSHALL TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Three of the four juveniles arrested for trying to break into a gun shop in Marshall Township last Friday had ankle bracelets on, Channel 11 has learned.

The chief said the four boys left the shop in a stolen car, hit a police cruiser, took off, crashed in the woods along Route 910 and then stole another car, crashed that, and ran away.

They were found hours later when the owner of a hair salon called 911 after she saw the boys in the woods nearby, searched them and let them inside as they waited for police.

“Obviously if they had ankle bracelets on, they were involved in something prior to this,” said salon employee Kathy Grayson.

A local criminologist said this leads to a lot of questions.

“If they had ankle bracelets on, they were on for a reason, so the question is who was monitoring these juveniles,” said Dr. John Cencich, a PennWest professor and criminologist. “That supervision should be under a responsible parent or guardian and also by law enforcement or probation agency.”

The four boys were taken into custody and charged with aggravated assault on a police officer, burglary, criminal trespass, auto theft and receiving stolen property.

Two of them were taken to a juvenile facility outside the county and the other two with ankle bracelets were released to their parents.

“There’s a good chance they knew they weren’t being monitored properly. Otherwise, why take the risk to leave and thinking their every move was being monitored,” said Cencich.

Police said this is the second time the gun shop was targeted. It was first broken into on Dec. 23. Nine guns were stolen, including rifles and after these arrests, police said they were able to recover about half of them.

Right now, police are waiting for the results of their DNA and fingerprint analysis to confirm whether the two break-ins at the gunshop are connected.

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