The case of one of the four individuals arrested over the summer for an alleged armed robbery will be set for sentencing.
A seventeen-year-old Jacksonville boy admitted a petition for adjudication for delinquency of a minor in Morgan County juvenile court this morning.
The boy, along with 18-year-old Juanlangeno Jackson, 25-year-old Don Starks and 28-year-old Jeremy Jackson, all of Jacksonville, were accused of setting up the robbery on July 16th.
Police testimony revealed the victim in the incident agreed to purchase an iPhone on an Internet site, and then meet the seller at Water and Ebey Streets. He was allegedly robbed of his own phone and about $400 in cash.
Police said the victim discovered that the phone was being re-sold online. A “controlled buy” was arranged through law enforcement. Juanlangeno Jackson and the 17-year-old were arrested as a result. Starks and Jeremy Jackson’s arrests followed.
Morgan County Assistant State’s Attorney Chad Turner says the boy admitted the petition based on his role in the events that led to him being charged.
“His involvement is basically the same as the other three in the sense that they’re all legally accountable for what each other did, they were acting in concert together to pull off this robbery. That being said, the minor, it could be argued that he was the least culpable in the sense that it was not alleged the he personally had a weapon or anything of that nature,” Turner says.
“He was also the first to cooperate with law enforcement when they were arrested. Also certainly, he is of a more tender age than the others involved. That being said, he was just as accountable for everything the other three did as they would be for anything he did,” he continues.
The 17-year-old can be sentenced between 4 to 15 years in the Department of Juvenile Justice or his 21st birthday, whichever comes first, according to Turner.