CALVERT COUNTY, Md. (7News) — A 13-year-old boy who was given probation after raping two 6-year-old girls is back behind bars after violating his probation, according to the Calvert County State’s Attorney.
State’s Attorney Bob Harvey said his office recently learned the boy was making threatening phone calls to another child who is not directly connected to the case.
The 13-year-old had been ordered to have no contact with other juveniles as a condition of his probation.
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Harvey said his office filed a motion to revoke his probation, which was granted. On Thursday, the boy was found in violation of his probation during a hearing.
He is now being held at Cheltenham Youth Detention Center pending sentencing later in August.
Harvey was critical of the initial sentence of probation with electronic monitoring rather than placement in a secure facility.
“If it were committed by an adult, it would have been a felony,” Harvey said after the sentencing in July. “It’s a rape by a 13-year-old juvenile offender of two 6-year-old girls. And how that could even happen is beyond my comprehension. But it did.”
Under Maryland law, juveniles as young as 13 generally cannot automatically be charged as adults, and most such cases are handled in the juvenile system. At sentencing, Harvey said his office argued for the boy to be placed in a secure facility to protect the community and ensure he receives treatment.
The state Department of Juvenile Services (DJS) recommended the boy be released to home detention with an ankle monitor, a position the judge ultimately adopted. Judges have final authority over juvenile dispositions but often weigh recommendations from DJS, which is tasked with balancing public safety and the rehabilitation of young offenders.
“I was angry. I was furious. I felt like I had been slapped in the face,” the victims’ mother told 7News in July. “I felt like everything that we’ve been through and fought for all these months just was a letdown. I believed in the state to faithfully do what was right. And they didn’t. I was let down. I’m hurt.”
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The woman’s identity, as well as the identities of the girls, is being withheld to protect the children.
The mother said she is especially troubled because the boy was allowed to return to the same home where some of the abuse occurred and remains in the same community where her family lives. She said the disposition fails both the victims and the offender.
“This kid needs help,” she said. “This kid needs to be in professional hands.”
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