U-46 eighth-grader formally charged with felony theft
The 13-year-old Ellis Middle School student arrested and fingerprinted after being accused of stealing a teacher's sunglasses has been formally charged with felony theft, her mother said Tuesday.
Rochell Raymond of Elgin called the police department to check on the case's status Monday.
It was then she said she learned the charge Olivia Raymond had been facing since May 6 had been formally approved through the juvenile court system.
No court date has yet been set, but Raymond said the family's lawyer has advised them to fight the charge in court.
Deputy Police Chief Cecil Smith confirmed that a 13-year-old Ellis Middle School student was charged, and referred the matter to juvenile services in Geneva. "It's in their hands now," he said. Because the case involves a juvenile, he declined to comment further.
But Elgin Area School District U-46 Superintendent Jose Torres is "outraged" that a 13-year-old has been arrested on such a charge, district spokesman Tony Sanders said late Tuesday evening. Like Smith, Sanders declined to comment further, citing student privacy laws.
Raymond said she got a call at her workplace in Niles about 11:30 a.m. May 6 from Elgin police, informing her that her daughter had been arrested, fingerprinted and photographed by police, suspended from school and stripped of her privileges to attend eighth-grade activities.
Rochell Raymond said Olivia told her she found a pair of sunglasses on top of her book bag, asked others - including her first-period teacher - whom they belonged to, and couldn't immediately determine who owned the glasses.
Not wanting to be late to her next class, she took the glasses with her, planning to put them on a table in front of the main office before lunch. But just a few minutes into second period, Rochell Raymond said, orchestra teacher Linda Szybeko came into Olivia's class, said the sunglasses were hers and accused Olivia of stealing them.
After being called down to the main office, Olivia was told she would be suspended for theft and Szybeko might want to file criminal charges.
Szybeko has not yet been available for comment. An e-mail from her father, Donald Szybeko, says the sunglasses were scratched and that "Linda only wanted the glasses fixed and the mother refused."
Rochell Raymond said she has repeatedly offered to pay for any damage that might have occurred to the teacher's sunglasses.
After the family spoke with Torres, Assistant Superintendent Greg Walker and Chief of Staff Barb Bonner, the suspension was wiped from Olivia's record and her eighth-grade privileges reinstated.
Bennie Sauers approached the U-46 school board about the issue at Monday's meeting after reading about Olivia's story in the Daily Herald.
"I'm here out of concern. Was there a better way that this could have been handled?" she asked the school board. "For a 13-year-old child to be arrested, could they rethink what they're doing?"
"We as a board are asking those same questions and are looking into it. Until those are answered, we won't speak about it," school board President Ken Kaczynski said.
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<li><a href="/story/?id=380353">Elgin mom accuses U-46 of violating daughter's rights <span class="date">[05/13/10]</span></a></li>
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