A Maryland police chief is calling for greater accountability in the case of a group of teens accused of breaking into 121 cars in one night during a rapid crime spree.
Laurel police arrested a 16-year-old boy Wednesday morning in connection to car break-ins on the night of May 4. He and two other teens smashed car windows and stole items from 54 cars in Laurel and 67 more in Prince George's, Anne Arundel and Howard counties, police said.
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WATCH HERE"They were just simply going through neighborhoods and targets of opportunity, breaking into cars. If there was something in there, they'd steal. If there was nothing in there, they'd move to another car," Laurel Police Chief Russ Hamill told News4.
Video from that night shows two suspects walk from car to car in a parking lot and use flashlights to search inside. A third suspect is driving a car closeby in case they need to escape, Hamill said. That car was stolen, he said.
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SIGN UP Investigators found the keys to the stolen car and keys to 25 other cars during a search warrant at the 16-year-old suspect's home in Beltsville, police said. They also found several stolen items, police said.
Five hours after arresting the teen, police had to release him.
"He was released back into the community, back into the environment that allowed him to be out roaming the streets in all of these counties late at night and in the early morning," Hamill said during a news conference.
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Detectives had the support of the state's attorney's office to hold the teen, but the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services (DJS) denied their request, saying the teen didn't have a prior record and the crimes weren't violent, Hamill said.
The police chief admonished the DJS' decision.
"We don't do this lightly. We don't ask for young people to be held on a whim. We do so to help protect the community and them," Hamill said.
"I have little hope there will be further accountability for him due to this broken system."
Hamill said although some might consider car break-ins a lower-level crime, they greatly affect the victims, who often have to pay hundreds of dollars on their insurance deductibles and miss work because they don't have a useable car.
"I had one woman stop me and mention to me that this is the third time this has happened to her car. And because the deductible was so high she had to make adjustments in her home including the purchase of food."
The other two teens were arrested, Laurel police said in an update early Friday. Stay with NBC Washington for updates.
