Child Arrested After Opening Holiday Gift Early

POSTED: 9:26 am PST December 5, 2006

What is the penalty for opening your Christmas presents too early?

For one South Carolina 12-year-old, the penalty was arrest.

A Rock Hill, S.C., woman called police and asked them to arrest her son who opened a Christmas present early after being told not to, the Rock Hill Herald reported. Police went to the house and arrested the boy and charged him with petty larceny.

The paper reported that the boy's great-grandmother had specifically told him not to open his present, which contained a Nintendo Game Boy Advance. It was wrapped and lying under the Christmas tree, the police report stated.

But on Sunday morning, the gift was unwrapped and the box was empty. So when the boy's mother found out, she alerted police, the paper reported.

"He took it without permission. He wanted it. He just took it," the 63-year-old great-grandmother told the Herald.

The women said that the boy lied to them at first, saying he was unaware of where the video game system was. After threat of calling the police, the boy apparently gave the toy back to his mother, the paper reported. But the upset mother called police anyway.

Two officers responded and charged the child as a juvenile with petty larceny, although he was not jailed.

The mother told the Herald that she didn't know what else to do with her son, so she called police. The paper reported she is a single mother and has been struggling with constant behavior problems from the boy. She said her son still showed no remorse when the police came.

"I'm trying to get him some kind of help," the 27-year-old mother told the paper. "He's the type of kid who doesn't believe anything until it happens."

She said he has shoplifted, stolen money from her, punched a police officer and is nearing expulsion from school. She told the paper that she hopes this arrest will be a wake-up call for her son, because she worries about getting a call someday telling her he's been killed.

The mother plans to have her son placed with the state Department of Juvenile Justice in Columbia at his court appearance, the Herald reported.

what part of "no" do you not understand?

His mother and great-grandmother sound like psychos. Also sounds like the mother is a push over who failed her child so she's passing the blame onto the state.

that's just sick.

I guess she's fed up with his sh**ty behavior; he obviously wont listen to her so she's calling in the reserves.

You guys know me; I blame the mother and the jackass kid.

His great- grandmother is 63, which tells a little family history.

Sound like the whole clan should have been reigned in long before that.

Attention teenagers! Stop making babies!

Sounds to me like he's a 'bad seed' .. pure and simple .. regardless of environment.

This kid needed a beating a long time ago.

I agree with everyone else. This kind of crap makes me mad. I don't think he should get anything for Christmas at all. Maybe that'd wake him up. He wants to act like a criminal? Treat him like one.

I've made similar threats (but never had to act on them ) to my kids about touching gifts before Christmas morning, and then I just got smart and kept everything hidden till they were in bed Christmas Eve.

Better this than later stealing from a drug lord or a racketeer.
At least the group homes for teen criminals in the south are fairly safe compared to other places from what I have heard. He will learn how to chop wood and use a shovel very well.

And he STILL gets a Gameboy Advance for Christmas??

And I hate the "she's a single mother" thing -- so what? That's no excuse for not knowing how to raise a kid. I would sure know what to do with a kid like that....

They got him a Gameboy Advance?

It's 2006!

More than likely, after time in Juvie he'll come out even worse

She arrested him for openeing a Gameboy Advance.....They cost like £5!!!. But my parents would probabally do that, even if it was something really stupid like a bag of chocolate coins or something.

our tax dollars hard at work serving justice to young children who open their presents before xmas.

Geez. Reminds me when my brother woke up very early on Christmas. And opened all his gifts. X_X

whatever happened to smart kids who unwrapped them and then rewrapped them without anyone being the wiser?

I'm with coldethyl on this one.

My brother revealed that to us when we were all grown at a family get together, Geisha. He said that he would put pencils down to mark the spot exactly where the present was sitting.

i hate to admit this but i am guilty of the same thing. as i recall, i was too excited to sleep and it all started with sneaking a peak at one, then opening it, then opening all the rest. i even turned the living room lights on, turned on the TV and was having a grand ol time without ever thinking "how am i going to explain this to my parents?". one of the gifts was a hand hockey table made out of wood, my mother finaly awoke the sound of a clanking wooden puck and a small plastic stick. i don't know what i was thinking lol, that was probably the worst thing i have done as a child though.

I always tried to resist the earge to take a peek but sometimes the devil in me got the best of me!! I was always sneaker them my brother though!! Now I know better!! I bring all of my brother's and sister's pesents over on Christmas day to avoid any bad temptations they might have!!

It's hard to keep a 14 and 7 year old in check!! I'm 23 so I gota be the adult and at the same time the older sis...it gets hard at times to be the good role model and a sis to spoil them!! They deserve it though. They are such good kids!!

Whenever I walk in the door on Christmas day their little eyes lighten up and start to sparkle. They never know what I've got cause they couldn't even shake the boxes to try to figure it out the night before.

somebody was over reacting, but who has a christmas tree this early anyways?

Lots of people will put their tree up the day after Thanksgiving... I am not one of these people... I'll probably put mine up this weekend though. Why anyone with kids would put the gifts under there this early is a mystery, however..

you would be surprised how may people put them up early , l had a friend that would make it a family tradition to put up their tree always on the first sunday in December .

my tree always went up this early but the presents were never underneath until christmas eve after i was sleepin.. i never really wanted to peek because i enjoyed the suspense and suprise

uh....getting charged for opening a christmas present too early..... Thats just a little....INSANE. I couldn't imagine being charged by police offices if i opened a present too early when i was a young lad. I have takin a peak inside my present once. Really people imagine your mother calling the cops on you when you where a kid for something like that.

My family doesnt sleep when we open presents up :/ . We stay up all night and open them up at 12 AM. So I dont think I would get away with anything. Although I might cuz my dad's always drunk.

My tree went up in November, the day after Thanksgiving. Last year since my kids are both in their teens I started putting most of the pressies wrapped under the tree as I got them so I wouldn't have to try and hide them. Seems to be fine with them. I still save the big things for Christmas Eve but they never mess with them. My dog used to try and eat the bows, but he's older now and not bothered. One of my cats climbs the tree and...wait I'm way off topic here...

Burn him!

I had kittens in the house one year and you just can't understand what goes through one's mind upon discovering a tree-full of kittens..had I the presence of mind to find a camera before falling over, I could try and show you..

^^ I bet it was cute as hell but also quite maddening. My cat Shaylee jumps unsuspectingly out from the middle of the tree. It makes me have an eye twitch.

8 furry little bodies clinging to every available branch they could.. and they did not want to be extricated from the tree either.. maddening indeed.. and the mama-cat sitting below shaking her head in resignation...

you dont need the police its called a wooden spoon

Wow... I would have been arrested about 50 times for that by now.

Omg. Yeah, my whole family was so upset at him for it. Even my oldest sister was very upset at him. -_-; Of course I has never done that again since then.

If the mother wants to teach him something, why not make him give the Game Boy to Toys for Tots or something? He doesn't deserve it. If he were my kid & acted like this, he'd get nothing but socks & underwear for Christmas! That's what you'd get for not listening to mom in my book!