Three boys, aged 11, 12, and 16 have been arrested in the US for robbing a bank in Houston, said the authorities on Wednesday. The youngsters, dubbed as "Little Rascals" were charged with robbery by threat and were in custody, said Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzale, according to a report by the Associated Press.
“They are 11, 12, and 16-year-old boys charged locally with robbery by threat,” said the FBI's Houston office on Tuesday.
The Sheriff said that no additional information would be released because of their ages and the FBI has not disclosed the amount taken in the robbery.
The FBI's Houston office said that the trio was wanted for robbing a Wells Fargo bank in the city's Greenspoint area on March 14. The FBI also posted an image of the three boys on its social media account on X where all of them could be seen wearing hoodies inside the bank's lobby.
As per ABC13, two of the suspects were taken into custody after their parents recognised them in the surveillance photos and contacted law enforcement. An eyewitness initially told officials that the boys appeared to be between 14 and 18 years old, but the FBI later said that they were 11, 12, and 16 years old in an arrest update.
"The age of the younger two, that's unusual for a bank robbery," retired juvenile district court judge, Mike Schneider told ABC13. "It's one of the first times I've seen that," he added.
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According to the Sheriff's office, the boys passed a threatening note to a teller, as per the ABC13 report, adding that it was believed that they were armed, though they did not present a weapon and got away with an undisclosed amount of cash.
In Texas, a person who is at least 10 years old but not yet 17 at the time of their crime or conduct in question is legally defined as a juvenile. In case of being found guilty, a minor could face probation or juvenile detention.