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Samantha Hayes Reporting It’s probably safe to say several Orem kids are grounded tonight for an offense that surprised both their parents and police.
Two brothers arrested early Tuesday morning have long juvenile records, and for obvious reasons you won't be hearing from their parents in this story, but this latest offense has police worried about where they are headed.
At 4 o'clock AM, Tuesday morning in an Orem intersection something odd stood out.
Lt. Doug Edwards/Orem police: “It was suspicious there was a twelve-year old driving a car."
An officer spotted a young person running from the Maverick station to a gym parking lot across the street. That's where the car was waiting with the lights off.
Lt. Doug Edwards: “And he had six passengers in the car, the oldest was 14, the youngest was 11."
Needless to say, the situation created a late night at the Orem police department for a lot of parents. It was an especially late night for the 12-year old driver of the car and his 11-year old brother, one of the passengers.
Combined the brothers have accumulated 32 minor offenses on their juvenile records, nine of those in Orem, which include four arrests.
Lt. Doug Edwards: “They (parents) wanted them to suffer some immediate consequences and so we took them to a shelter facility where they could spend the night."
Police say the parents of the two boys seemed frustrated with their sons' ability to get into trouble over and over again, which raises the question, “When do the courts intervene?"
Dennis Martinez in the juvenile courts says repeat offenders see the same judge in order to keep a consistent record of what's going on in the family.
Dennie Martine/3rd District Juvenile Court: “Initial counseling with the family, seeing what went wrong, and if the kids continue to progress in the system additional sanctions are imposed."
That can range from community service to removal from the home. Family supervision, the type of charge and the child's involvement in school and the community are considered before child and family services enter the picture.
