PORT ANGELES — A 17-year-old boy has been sentenced to between 103 and 129 weeks in juvenile prison for stealing candy from a trick-or-treater on Halloween.
The boy, who is not named because he is a minor, pleaded guilty the same day he was sentenced, Jan. 6, to first-degree robbery.
The maximum sentence for the charge is 129 weeks. He will receive 67 days credit for time served.
The boy was previously charged with first-degree theft and second-degree assault with a deadly weapon as an adult. As a result of the plea agreement, those charges were dropped.
The boy, according to police, held a knife to the victim’s throat after he and a friend stole the trick-or-treater’s pillowcase of candy Oct. 31 in Port Angeles, police said.
The mother of the victim said she was glad to see the 17-year-old boy sentenced to juvenile prison, rather than to an adult correctional facility.
“He’s a kid,” she said. “We felt definitely that 2.5 years to two years for what he did — that’s plenty of time.”
During sentencing, she said she looked at him and said, “I hope you make some changes in your life and go back out when you’re done with this and be a productive citizen of our community again.”
The boy put his head in his hands and sobbed during sentencing, she said.
“Every person in there was crying,” she said, “passing tissues around.”
His accomplice, a 16-year-old boy, was sentenced to 80 hours of community service in December for the crime. He pleaded guilty to a charge of second-degree robbery.
