Florida's Lake Weir School student, 14, steals $10K from grandmom and hands it out to classmates
SUMMERFIELD, FLORIDA: A 14-year-old girl from Lake Weir Middle School caused a shock to North Florida after she allegedly stole and gave out more than $10,000 from her grandmother's savings. The incident came to the Marion County deputies' knowledge after a student was reported to hand out hundreds of dollars each to classmates. After conducting a search the officials were able to redeem $2,500 from her backpack.
Initially, when asked, the student said that she was giving out money because an unknown friend who had moved away had asked her to do so. However, it was later found out that the girl had broken into her grandmother's life savings which were about $13,500. The unnamed minor is faced with grand theft charges.
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The parents of the Lake Weir Middle School, which is located in Summerfield about 60 miles northwest of Orlando, received a voicemail from the principal of the school regarding the incident in the school on October 20 and were asked to give their children a call. According to FOX 35, one of the parents, Michelle Spaulding said on the matter, "That’s when she was like, ‘Yeah, mom! The child did come up to me and ask me if I wanted $100' and she said, ‘No, it’s got to be stolen, I don’t want nothing to do with it.'" Spaulding then said that she felt bad for the family, "I really hope it gets recovered because that’s so devastating. I feel really bad for the family."
After this call, the matter was turned into a criminal investigation during which the students who had accepted the money told the officers that the girl said it was her grandmother's money and that she had permission to give it away. However, there were some students who were not convinced by her words, so they intimated the situation to the school administrators and the school resource officer. Spaulding said that her daughter did not know the girl who was giving her money. "She’s never seen the kid at all. Which I thought was even more shocking."
The money that the minor was randomly handing out was half the life savings of her grandmother. It was the leftover from the amount she had after she sold her house. The deputies were trying to get the money back from the students, during which one student came back with $200 and another one submitted $500 to the office. The officers had been asking the parents to check with their kids and give back the amount if they received any. The $700 collected back and the $2,500 found in the girl's bag were handed back to her grandmother.