Baltimore officials announce charges in ‘spree’ of carjackings and robberies by young people

Baltimore prosecutors accused 20 young people of a “spree” of armed carjackings and robberies in October and November that spanned the city.

Members of the group, ranging in age from 12 to 17, were each tied to a location in West Baltimore, Mayor Brandon Scott said at a Wednesday morning news conference, describing the location as a “home base” or “hangout.”

At his own news conference Wednesday afternoon, Baltimore State’s Attorney Ivan Bates said the group likely contributed to an uptick in crimes committed by children or teens, saying that at times there were more than a dozen alleged incidents in one weekend or even one night. He declined to say how many of the 53 incidents the group has been linked to were carjackings, but said they were the “majority.”

“The investigation exposed a crime spree that would begin in one city district, moving throughout the city,” Bates said. “Only the Northwest and Northeast districts appear to have been untouched by this group of juveniles.”

Bates said he wasn’t able to confirm the mayor’s statements or discuss any alleged “clubhouse” tying members of the group together, or additional facts about the pending cases, citing juvenile confidentiality laws.

The state’s attorney stopped short of saying the mayor divulged confidential information, but said a judge had warned doing so might compromise pending cases.

Bates also declined to say when the young people were first taken into custody or accused of the “delinquent acts” — the term for when Maryland youth are accused of activity that would be criminal for adults.

The Maryland General Assembly is in the final stretch of a 90-day legislative session that has featured heated discussion over a pair of juvenile justice bills that supporters say seek greater accountability but critics call reactionary and not evidence-based. Among other things, the proposals would increase the number of charges that children ages 10 to 12 could face and allow judges to extend young people’s probationary periods.

Officials’ two news conferences Wednesday — one with Scott, the other hosted by Bates — drew some criticisms, both for the timing and for how the underlying case was handled.

Josh Rovner, the director of youth justice with The Sentencing Project, which is part of the Maryland Youth Justice Coalition, said he was concerned the announcement was an attempt to “lobby the legislature,” calling it “curious timing.”

“The state’s attorney has been lobbying on behalf of this legislation for months, so it’s impossible to view this revelation of news without understanding that to be the case,” Rovner said.

The Office of the Public Defender, meanwhile, accused Bates and Baltimore Police of “engaging in self-promotion” about an incident they “contributed to greatly by their own inaction.”

Marguerite E. Lanaux, the Baltimore City District Public Defender, said in an emailed statement that the State’s Attorney intentionally delayed charging the children for incidents beginning last August, resulting in “unnecessary victims” and squandering “precious time for interventions.”

“The existence of this house as a place where children frequently visited speaks to the need for early intervention,” Lanaux wrote. “BPD and SAO’s failure to ‘close this clubhouse’ for many months, or make any effort to confront the homeowner or adult managing the home is outrageous, especially since law enforcement knew of the distress signals.”

Bates said Wednesday that the 20-person group operated over an eight- to ten-week period in October and November. They would divide into smaller “sub-groups” during the alleged criminal activity, he said. A temporary task force of police investigators and prosecutors in the State’s Attorney’s Office conducted a 15-week investigation, leading to the “takedown,” according to Bates.

In total, the group faces more than 100 charges tied to 53 incidents, officials said. The charges they face include armed carjacking, armed robbery, assault and handgun violations, Bates said.

Some of the young people, according to Scott, are linked to more than a dozen incidents.

Some also have “histories of noncompliance with GPS and electronic monitoring,” according to a State’s Attorney’s Office news release.

In Maryland, teens above the age of 16 are automatically charged as adults for alleged armed carjackings and carjackings. Children aged 10 or older also can be charged with carjackings and 42 other crimes of violence.

Bates said some members of the 20-person “juvenile carjacking group” have been charged in adult court. However, those cases are  pending waiver hearings in which defense attorneys have requested the cases be moved to juvenile court.

That refers to the process for requesting that a case move forward in juvenile court.

The mayor attributed the takedown to Baltimore Police detectives who mapped the crimes and pieced together how they were connected over a “months-long operation.” The police, he said, used video footage, social media, intelligence sharing with other partners and the mapping of social connections featured in the city’s group violence reduction strategy.

“It is clear that this group of young people were determined to do whatever they wanted, no matter what,” Scott said.

Baltimore Police arrests of juvenile offenders rose in October and November, with 90 arrests and 98, respectively, according to data compiled from police reports by The Sentencing Project. The department’s juvenile arrests have been lower since then, down to 71 in January and 80 in February, the data show.

A report last September by the Department of Juvenile Services found there has been an uptick in crimes committed by young people since the coronavirus pandemic, but that those crimes are still lower than pre-pandemic levels. The report also said the crimes committed by young people made up a small portion of all crimes statewide.

Maryland Public Defender Natasha M. Dartigue criticized the law enforcement actions behind the case, saying it’s crucial for police agencies and prosecutors to “prioritize timely, legal arrests, address the underlying issues contributing to crime, and provide appropriate interventions and support to children and their families.”

But, Dartigue said, “none of that happened here.”

“Sadly, as the Maryland General Assembly debates a juvenile justice reform bill which offers no evidence-based solutions, the SAO continues to demonize children, rather than address the underlying issues that result in ‘clubhouses’ through prevention or evidence-based initiatives,” Dartigue said in a statement.

Bates used his Wednesday news conference to announce his intention to seek “parental accountability” and restitution paid by parents or guardians moving forward. He described telling the governor that he wanted to move toward pursuing charges of “contributing to the delinquency of a minor,” and said he’d met with the Department of Juvenile Services this week to discuss how that might happen.

Before a parent or guardian could be charged with that offense, Bates said, there would need to be evidence proving they were aware of what was taking place and understood their responsibilities and obligations.

No adults have been charged in connection with this 20-person group, Bates said Wednesday. His office said in a news release, however, that prosecutors would be “pursuing restitution from the parents or guardians of the juveniles in this group for the repeated violent offenses they are alleged to have committed, in addition to criminal liability.”

“Parents, you have a job in this process,” Bates said.

Brad O’Brien, the president of Baltimore Police’s Southern District Community Relations Council, praised the actions by police and prosecutors, saying that residents and visitors should not “simply come to expect crimes like these as part of our city’s life.”

“A small number of people can terrorize a community and city,” O’Brien said.