Children Are Robbing Pharmacies In Indiana For Adults

Young children in Indianapolis are reportedly robbing pharmacies for adults that are seeking drugs, and at least one youth has already been arrested in the string of crimes. The Indianapolis Star reports that a 12-year-old boy was arrested after attempting to rob a Walgreens store on Tuesday, but will more arrests follow?

It seems to be a well-coordinated ring of robberies being committed by young people under the age of 18. Authorities in Indianapolis have discovered that adults are paying children cash money and putting them up to the robberies, having them enter area pharmacies to commit their crimes under threat of violence. Most of the time the children threaten or allude to the possibility that they are armed. During more than one robbery, a child has been known to pass a note to a pharmacy clerk, notifying them that they are being robbed of their inventory. The notes are known to say that the child is willing to injure or kill the employee.

USA Today reports that there have been at least three similar incidents involving children robbing pharmacies, but no violence has been reported — even though the child robbers have threatened it. Curiously enough, authorities in Indiana say that they are not sure if the incidents are connected — but they all share the same elements: Young children robbing pharmacies for adults who have put them up to it.

This is not the first time adults have used children to commit crimes — some of which ghastly in nature. A shocking recent case involves Mexican cartels, which have employed children as young as 12- to 14-years of age to do their murderous light-work. In 2013 a young boy named Edgar Jimenez Lugo was arrested after he had been outed as an assassin for a cartel. The child was 14-years-old when he admitted to slitting the throats of at least four “targets.” Another teenage hitman for Mexican cartels was found slain on the side of a road in Morelos, Mexico. The child was only 13-years-old when he was tortured and killed, but had once been used as a hired assassin. The teen had recently confessed to authorities that he was directly involved in at least 10 homicides, which may have led to his demise.

Parents have also used their children to commit petty crimes like theft. Earlier this year a Memphis mom was caught training her children to steal from area stores. She was caught after employees of an unnamed store figured out that she was having her kids create a diversion while she shoplifted cellular phones.

[Photo: Indianapolis Metro Police Dept.]