Child Arrested After Opening Holiday Gift Early
But on Sunday morning, the gift was unwrapped and the box was empty. So when the boy's mother found out, she alerted police, the paper reported.
"He took it without permission. He wanted it. He just took it," the 63-year-old great-grandmother told the Herald.
The women said that the boy lied to them at first, saying he was unaware of where the video game system was. After threat of calling the police, the boy apparently gave the toy back to his mother, the paper reported. But the upset mother called police anyway.
Two officers responded and charged the child as a juvenile with petty larceny, although he was not jailed.
The mother told the Herald that she didn't know what else to do with her son, so she called police. The paper reported she is a single mother and has been struggling with constant behavior problems from the boy. She said her son still showed no remorse when the police came.
"I'm trying to get him some kind of help," the 27-year-old mother told the paper. "He's the type of kid who doesn't believe anything until it happens."
She said he has shoplifted, stolen money from her, punched a police officer and is nearing expulsion from school. She told the paper that she hopes this arrest will be a wake-up call for her son, because she worries about getting a call someday telling her he's been killed.
The mother plans to have her son placed with the state Department of Juvenile Justice in Columbia at his court appearance, the Herald reported.