3 teens sent to adult jail on kidnapping, robbery charges
Three Memphis teenagers arrested in connection with the abduction of a Collierville man outside a Memphis night club in January will be tried as adults.
Their arrest adds to the ongoing issue for jail officials of where to house children charged with adult crimes.
The teens, a 16-year-old boy, a 15year-old girl and a 16-year-old girl, were transferred Tuesday from Shelby County Juvenile Court to the women’s jail at Shelby County Jail East.
A fourth teen defendant in the case remains in juvenile court custody because he is undergoing a psychological evaluation, officials said.
The teens are charged with aggravated kidnapping and aggravated robbery in the incident that occurred earlier this year.
According to Collierville police, the incident began when a man was robbed on Jan. 28 as he left a nightclub on Highland Street in Memphis.
Police said the man was forced to drive to his home in Collierville where items were taken. The teens are accused of forcing the man and his parents to withdraw money from an ATM. No one was injured.
Collierville police arrested the teens as they attempted to head back to Memphis.
The Commercial Appeal does not name juvenile defendants unless they are charged in a first-degree murder case.
The teens remain in Shelby County Jail East pretrial under no bond, and no court date has been set for the trio.
Their arrest adds to the ongoing debate about where to properly house children accused of adult crimes.
The issue was recently brought to the forefront in the murder case of a 16year-old Memphis girl, Teriyona Winton.
Winton who is charged with killing 17-year-old Deago Brown last April in Binghamton, was being held in isolation at the Tennessee Prison for Women in Nashville.
She was 15 when she was arrested and transferred to the women’s prison from Shelby County Jail East.
Shelby County officials said they transferred Winton to Nashville because they do not have the facilities to house for her locally.
Tennessee law requires juveniles to be “separate and removed” from adult detainees and federal standards prohibiting “sight and sound” contact with adults inmates.
Winton’s attorneys argued that the conditions were not fit for the developing brain of a teen.
Her lawyers also argued that isolating her in solitary confinement is unconstitutional.
After a hearing last month, Criminal Court Judge Mark Ward ruled that Winton can remain at Shelby County Jail East pretrial.
She will be back in court on April 23, according to court records.