The Palm Beach Post

Teen charged in Greenacres-area armed carjacking

- By Julius Whigham II Palm Beach Post Staff Writer jwhigham@pbpost.com Twitter: @JuliusWhig­ham

WEST PALM BEACH — A 15-yearold Lantana boy appeared at a court hearing Friday morning after prosecutor­s decided to try him as an adult in an alleged armed carjacking.

David Monroe-Scarboro was denied bond during an arraignmen­t hearing before Judge Ted Booras at the Palm Beach County Jail. The teen is accused in an alleged armed carjacking the morning of Feb. 23 on South Military Trail, just east of the Greenacres city limits near John I. Leonard High School.

A 27-year-old man told Palm Beach County Sheriff ’s Office investigat­ors that he had driven a friend’s 2005 Dodge Caravan to his residence and was getting out of the vehicle when two people approached carrying handguns.

Monroe-Scarboro stood watch as a lookout while his accomplice approached the vehicle, deputies said. The accomplice snatched the alleged victim’s keys, iPhone and wallet, according to the report. Both suspects entered the vehicle and fled the scene.

The sheriff ’s report does not indicate if anyone else was charged in the carjacking.

On March 28, a sheriff ’s investigat­or working unrelated burglary cases reported that Monroe-Scarboro had confessed to being involved in the carjacking of a dark-colored Dodge Caravan. Monroe-Scarboro reportedly told investigat­ors he would commit the crime again and had no remorse for the alleged victim.

Since 2016, more than 20 juveniles in Palm Beach County have been charged with carjacking and prosecuted as adults.

Monroe-Scarboro is the third juvenile carjacking suspect to be charged as an adult since the beginning of 2018.

On Saturday, a 16-yearold in Palm Beach Gardens was charged as an adult for a carjacking that occurred last month in Lake Park.

Monroe-Scarboro is among the youngest defendants over the past couple of years to be charged in adult court. In 2016, two 14-year-old boys were charged in unrelated carjacking cases. Authoritie­s also arrested a 13-year-old carjacking suspect that year. At that time, his case was in the juvenile court system.

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