The Story about James and His Costly Mistakes

His neighbors say that James always acted jealous when he saw people with cool new stuff. A foster child to Mr. and Mrs. Jones in a nice home, when James was a young child, he came from a very poor and messed up family. Little by little, James began stealing other people's things. It started with a CD player that belonged to his friend, which he was able to convince everyone that he only borrowed. Next thing you know he was inside his neighbor's house, caught red-handed with a 115-year old, antique diamond ring in his pocket, committing burglary. He later admitted he had planned to sell it to a pawn store and use the money to buy CDs, a watch, and some clothes. He had no idea the diamond ring was worth almost $30,000. This was his first time in trouble with the law, and during his arraignment he pleaded no contest. He was given 6-month probation and 200 hours of community service. James was remorseful and thankful it wasn't worse. He wrote a letter to Nicole, his neighbor, asking for forgiveness for trying to steal her ring. She later paid him a visit at home and explained that it wasn't just the ring. It was the fact that she felt scared and violated because someone was in her home. And she hadn't felt 100% safe since the incident, but she accepted his apology.

One might assume that he was let off easy and should have taken this opportunity to do well and turn away from crime. But unfortunately, that is not the direction James went. In April 2006, just 7 months after his first brush with the law, James was caught shoplifting a pair of Converse sneakers at the mall. When he was caught, he also had a watch in his jacket that he had stolen from a different store. Outside the mall, he was handcuffed, read his rights, and put inside the police car. He was once again shown some leniency in court and was given 12 days in Palm Beach Regional Juvenile Detention Center and ordered to pay restitution to both stores. And again, he felt remorse and vowed to stop his criminal behavior and change his life, especially since he was making his foster parents so sad.

Unfortunately while in detention, he made friends with some delinquent trouble makers that had been in the center for committing assault and battery. James and his two new friends all lived within 25 minutes of each other in Palm Beach County, so they stayed friends and hung out after they left the center.

One afternoon, the three boys were up to no good. James had never done any drugs, but the others were pot smokers and made a plan to get enough money to buy some more, without James knowing what they were up to. They convinced James that they should go down to the corner store and rob the cashier. They all thought it would be easy money and they couldn't get caught since the store hardly ever had any people in it. Around the corner from the store, one of the boys handed James a gun and told him he took it from his uncle's closet. He dared him to use it. Unfortunately and ironically for James, there was someone in the store that afternoon besides the frightened cashier. It was Nicole, his neighbor. They were in a different city from their homes, and James would never have known that Nicole had an elderly grandparent in a nearby nursing home and had stopped at that particular store to get gas.

She recognized him immediately and reported it to police at once. A warrant for his arrest was issued and he was picked up, ironically, on his 16th birthday. The thing that James did not realize was that in 1999, Florida passed the 10-20-LIFE law, which mandates a minimum of 10 years in prison for attempting to commit a crime while possessing a firearm. There would be no plea bargaining for James. Though out on bail for a short time, in 2007 James was quickly tried and received an indictment for the crime of armed robbery. He is currently serving 10 years in Belle Glades Correctional Institution and will have a long record that will always follow him.