Teen Jewelry Thieves Caught in Akron After Asking Police For Help in Escaping Cold

Two teen boys are accused of hiding out at Chapel Hill Mall’s JCPenney store and stealing handfuls of jewelry late Wednesday night, an Akron police report said. The pair was apprehended a few hours later outside Summa Hospital after waving down hospital police to say they needed to get out of the cold, News 5 reported.

Police called to the mall scene reported various jewelry cases broken open, as well as a shattered locked door that the thieves used to exit the premises.

Temperatures dipped well below freezing early this morning when the teens flagged down the cops.

The 16-year-old boy and 14-year-old boy, now in custody, are officially charged with theft, breaking and entering, criminal damaging and trespassing and possessing a concealed weapon (after knives and an unloaded gun were found on their person). When picked up, the pair had JCPenney-tagged merchandise stuffed in their pockets.

This article appears in Dec 27, 2017 – Jan 2, 2018.