Concerned Mother Turns In Teen Son in Suspected Thefts

In what authorities say was an act of good parenting, a Laguna Niguel mother turned her 16-year-old son over to probation officers this week because she suspected that he had been stealing property and stashing much of it in his bedroom.

The woman, whom authorities won’t identify, was praised by law enforcement officials, prosecutors and defense attorneys for what they all acknowledged was a difficult and painful decision.

“She did a good deed,” said Lt. Hector Rivera, an Orange County Sheriff’s Department spokesman.

Police suspect that over three months, the youth, whose parents are separated, took computer equipment, cameras, $5,000 in cash and other property from more than 20 buildings and 10 cars, as well as milk money from desks at an elementary school and a preschool.

In one five-day period, police said, the youth was involved in a string of 14 burglaries in neighborhoods surrounding La Paz Road and Crown Valley Parkway, near where he lives.

Most of the stolen property was recovered, police said, including items from unreported crimes. Investigators are sifting through property to try to identify other victims.

On Monday, the boy’s mother called authorities when she looked in his bedroom and saw cameras and computer equipment that she knew didn’t belong to him.

Assistant Dist. Atty. Bob Gannon, who heads the prosecutor’s Juvenile Court operations, said “parental involvement is very significant in rehabilitating minors and turning them away from criminal behavior.”

Many parents appear to agree. The Laguna Niguel woman’s action isn’t rare in the halls of juvenile justice, the experts said.

“It’s done fairly often,” said Linda Hewitt, a deputy Orange County public defender. “You usually don’t see outward resentment from the child. The child loves the parent; the parent loves the child.”

Parents often want authorities to intervene to “try to prevent a freight train from crashing,” said Dr. Martha Rogers, a Tustin forensic psychologist.

Some parents who have found drugs in their children’s rooms, for example, reported it to authorities to try to keep their children in line, said Sheriff’s Investigator Kevin Laughlin.

“Kids need direction, whether they like it or not,” he said.

In the Laguna Niguel youth’s case, he said, “I think his mom tried several different ways to try to discipline him, and the police were a last resort to try to get him help.”

The boy has been on probation for a school incident, but details were not available Tuesday.