Teenager Who Gave Away Cash at School Charged

Investigators say 14-year-old took the money from her grandmother's safe
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Oct 23, 2022 12:25 PM CDT
Teenager Who Gave Away Cash at School Charged
   (Getty Images/Avosb)

A 14-year-old girl caused a stir at a north Florida middle school when she handed out more than $10,000 that she is accused of stealing from her grandmother, officials said. Marion County deputies went to Lake Weir Middle School in Summerfield on Thursday after reports that a student was giving classmates hundreds of dollars each, according to an arrest report. Summerfield is about 60 miles northwest of Orlando. School officials searched the girl's backpack and found about $2,500, deputies said. The girl said she had been given the money by an unknown former student who wanted it distributed, the AP reports.

It was later determined that the girl had broken into her grandmother's home safe and stolen about $13,500 of the woman's life savings, investigators said. The arrest report doesn't say why the girl would have taken the money or given it away to her classmates. By Friday, officials had recovered about $700 of the money that had been given to other students. That money and the $2,500 recovered from the girl's backpack were returned to the grandmother. The girl is facing a grand theft charge.

(More grand theft stories.)

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