Mother of troubled teen facing charge of neglect
Four teenagers and the mother of one of them are facing a day in court after the teens allegedly robbed a man at gunpoint Wednesday morning in downtown Forrest City. The mother is facing misdemeanor charges in connection with her son’s involvement.
According to a report from the Forrest City Police Department, Clifton Hawkins, 30, of Forrest City, told officers he was walking on Gorman Street at around 10:30 a.m. yesterday when he was approached by a man in front of a home at 602 N. Gorman Street. Hawkins told officers the man, who was one of five individuals at the home, asked him for change for a $10 bill and when he took out the money to change the bill, the man took the money and yelled at one of the others, a 17-year-old Forrest City minor, to pull a gun. Hawkins told officers the teen did not pull the gun but a third man, identified as Jermaine Buchanan, 18, 749 Buford St., then brandished a pistol.
Hawkins told officers he ran from the scene when he saw the gun. He was able to provide police with a description of the vehicle that four of the men left the scene in. A short time later, officers stopped the vehicle in the parking lot of the Manor House apartment complex on North Division Street. Joseph Higgins, 19, of 1131 Airport Rd., was driving the vehicle, and Buchanan and the 17-year-old were both passengers. While searching the vehicle, officers reportedly found a silver .22-caliber pistol in a backpack. There was no clip in the pistol, according to the report, but one live round was found in the chamber.
Higgins and Buchanan were both arrested and charged with aggravated robbery and possession of firearms by certain persons. The teen was charged with carrying a weapon, which is a misdemeanor. Higgins was also charged with possession of firearms by certain persons, no driver’s license, no insurance and improper display of vehicle tags. The fourth suspect in the robbery has been identified but no arrests had been made as of this morning, according to a police department press release.
The teen’s mother is also facing a misdemeanor charge in connection with the incident.
In a separate arrest report Juanita Dillard, 44, of Colt, was charged with neglect of a minor resulting in delinquency which carries a fine of up to $290. According to Chief E.P. Reynolds, Dillard’s arrest was made after officers reviewed the teen’s arrest history.
“We want the message to be very clear on juvenile delinquency. Neither the Forrest City Police Department nor this community is going to continue to tolerate this problem. A big part of the problem we have with delinquency and some of the things that juveniles in this community are getting into, is that parents are not taking responsibility for their children’s actions,” said Reynolds.
“We do know and understand that sometimes children who know better and have been trained well do things that we as parents have no control over. But in cases like this where the teen is a repeat offender we feel something must be done to help that parent accept responsibility, and the law allows us to do that. In cases such as this, we will continue to charge parents because in many of these cases it’s the parents who have made excuses for their children’s criminal acts, and in cases, allowed this criminal behavior,” said Reynolds.
In the press release, Reynolds said, in part, “One of the suspects just got out of prison, one just received probation from circuit court and another is out on bond for capital murder. I pray that those in the decision making position will take a hard look at these suspects who pulled an armed robbery in a neighborhood in the middle of the day and do what they can to keep them locked up and off our streets. Just like this case, the parent of the juvenile was cited. The police department is charging the parents to hopefully get the parents to take more responsibility with their children to prevent incidents like this from occurring.”
The teen was arrested in February 2010 in connection with the murder of 56-year-old Arthur Joplin at a home at 120 N. Gorman in January of 2010. Police believe Joplin was shot during an attempted robbery as he sat in his car outside of the home. Four other teens were also arrested at that time.
