Once just wasn't enough for three teenage boys who police say left a Salt Lake County group home and robbed convenience stores two nights in a row.
Monday night a 7-Eleven store near 3900 S. Main was robbed by three teens who told clerks they had a gun, said Salt Lake County Sheriff's Sgt. Scott Miller.Tuesday night, about 11:15 p.m., near the same intersection, three teens entered a Texaco gas station and threatened "to cap the clerks," Miller said. The boys took beer, cigarettes and snacks in both robberies.
Both nights deputies scoured the area using police dogs, Miller said, even stopping to knock on the doors of any house where someone appeared to be awake.
Both nights the robbers seemed to vanish.
"We probably searched for the better part of an hour," Miller said. "I was getting pretty frustrated knowing they had to absolutely be in that area. I decided to go make contact . . . with Youth Services."
Youth Services is the facility that assesses the needs of troubled or abused children and recommends placement. It sits in the middle of a strip mall about 3800 S. Main.
"As soon as I walked in and gave them a description (of the suspects), they pointed at a room," Miller said. Deputies brought in police dogs and searched the room.
Miller said the boys "were pretending to be asleep . . . and unable to hide all of the beer and cigarettes" in the room. After arresting the trio, ages 14, 15 and 16, deputies searched all the rooms in the Youth Services facility.
"Some of the other kids had benefited from the fruits of the crimes," Miller said. All three were taken to the Salt Lake County Detention Center for investigation of aggravated robbery.