Thursday, March 25, 1999

AGUNA NIGUEL--In what authorities say was an act of good parenting, a Laguna Niguel mother turned her 16-year-old son over to probation officers this week because she suspected that he had been stealing property and stashing much of it in his bedroom.
The woman, whom authorities won't identify, was praised by law enforcement authorities, prosecutors and defense attorneys for what they all acknowledged was a difficult and painful decision.
"She did a good deed," said Lt. Hector Rivera, an Orange County Sheriff's Department spokesman.
Over three months, the youth, whose parents are separated, is suspected of stealing computer equipment, cameras, $5,000 in cash and other property from more than 20 buildings and 10 cars, as well as milk money from desks of students at two schools.
Police said they suspect that in one five-day period, the youth was involved in a string of 14 burglaries in neighborhoods around his house.
The boy's mother called the authorities Monday when she looked in his bedroom and saw cameras and computer equipment.

Copyright 1999 Los Angeles Times. All Rights Reserved

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