11-year-old suspect in attempted Portland, OR armed robbery is well-known to neighbors/ Father, Joseph Charlton, of 11 yr old arrested and child removed from home now

Speechless! This is one of the first articles and since then there are updates. The children have been removed from the home and the father has been arrested.

Residents of the Southeast Portland neighborhood where police say an 11-year-old boy with a gun attempted to rob a woman in the parking lot of the Freedom Foursquare Church said the boy is well-known to the neighborhood as an undisciplined bully who has been the subject of multiple police calls in the last year.

Kevin George, who does security work for the church at Southeast 160th Avenue and Alder Street and lives across from the church, said he's called Portland police at least five or six times in the last year and a half about the boy.

George, 46, said he caught the 11-year-old throwing a rock through a window of a church bus in the church lot two to three months ago. George said the boy has vandalized the church, writing graffiti on the outer walls.

In late August or early September, when George said he asked the boy to leave the church property, and he said the boy threatened him.

"Oh I know him quite well,'' George said of the 11-year-old. "He's out here all the time. There's no supervision.''

George said he's grabbed the boy by the arm and walked him back to his parents house several times.

"You need to control your child,'' George said he's complained to the boy's parents.

Two days after the boy was identified as attempting to rob and carjack a woman in the church lot, George and other neighbors said Monday they're well aware of the boy's antics the last year and have called police several times to speak with him.

Usually, the neighbors or police talk to the boys' parents, but the problems continue, they said.

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Continuing coverage of two boys accused of attempted carjacking in Southeast Portland.The management of Alder Village Apartments, an apartment complex directly across the street from the church and the boy's home, has ordered the boy off the property several times for trespassing. One time, the 11-year-old jumped the fence to get in the complex pool.

Several neighbors said the boy has boasted to other children and adults that he can get a gun because his dad has one.

"It's a continuous problem with him,'' George said.

Police, according to the neighbors, talk to the boy and the parents, each time they're called out.

Sgt. Pete Simpson, a police bureau spokesman, said Monday he couldn't talk about "any possible previous investigations'' or if police contacted other agencies to help intervene, regarding the 11-year-old boy or his family.

"It slows down a bit for awhile, but then the problems start up again,'' George said.

Sometimes, the boy's dad angrily responds to neighbors, walking out with a baseball bat or crowbar, they said.

George also said the 11-year-old rode his bike over his 8-year-old son at the complex one day.

A week ago Sunday, the same 11-year-old was caught throwing a couple of rocks through the window of dentist Edward J. Hagan Jr's office, which sits about 75 feet from the Freedom Foursquare Church, Hagan said. A resident in the neighborhood noticed the vandalism and called the dentist at his home and Hagan said he called 9-1-1.

Hagan said police came and escorted the 11-year-old to his home, adjacent to the church.

"It's too bad child services or someone can't do something with him, or get him and his family needed counseling,'' Hagan said.

On Saturday about 12:15 p.m., it was Carlena Phillips, who lives across the street from the church, who called 9-1-1 to report the 11-year-old boy had a gun in the church parking lot. She said she picked up the phone when her own son, age 11, ran home and told her he saw the weapon.

"My son said, 'Mom, this kid has a gun and it's loaded and he showed it to me,' '' Phillips recalled. "I never moved so quick and called 9-1-1. It's just so scary.''

Phillips said she was glad her son told her right away about the firearm he saw. "I told him, 'Nice job. I'm proud of you.' ''

Carlena Phillips, who called 9-1-1 on Saturday to report an 11-year-old boy in a SE Portland church parking lot with a gun. Phillips said her own son, age 11, ran home and told her he had seen the firearm, prompting her call.
Jamie Francis/The Oregonian George and his daughter, Audryanna Waldron, said they wish that more intervention could be done with the 11-year-old before police say he threatened a 22-year-old woman Saturday with a gun.

"I don't think it's safe for him to be in this area right now,'' George said.

"I can't wait until he turns 12 and something can be done,'' said Waldron. "It's an unfortunate cycle.''

A woman at the boy's home declined to talk Monday.

Multnomah County prosecutors are reviewing police reports on Saturday's attempted carjacking and robbery that authorities say was committed by two boys, ages 11 and 7.

Tom Cleary, the senior deputy district attorney who oversees juvenile cases, said his staff will evaluate whether to pursue a delinquency action or a dependency action involving the 11-year-old boy, who police said threatened a woman with a loaded, .22-caliber pistol.

To decide whether to petition the court to pursue a delinquency action, the prosecutors work to determine if the child has sufficient maturity to understand what he or she has done and the potential consequences.

If so, prosecutors would petition the court to charge the youth with the alleged offenses. Because this case involves an 11-year-old with a gun, the youth likely would face, at the most, probation, if convicted. That's because under state law, anyone under 12 can't be committed to the Oregon Youth Authority, Cleary said.

Prosecutors, working with county and state human services officials, also conduct a dependency evaluation: "Is there something going on in this family that puts the kids at risk? Is there a current threat of harm?" Cleary explained.

If so, the county would work with state human service officials to either create an "in-home safety plan" or file a dependency petition asking the state to make the youth a ward of the court. If the petition is granted, the child might be placed with another relative or in foster care.

Cleary said the county has prosecuted delinquency acts involving 11-year-olds, but he said he doesn't remember one involving a gun possession case. He recalled a sex crimes case with an 11-year-old.

And a 7-year-old? "I don't know that I've seen a delinquency action on a 7-year-old. That's young. But certainly we'd be evaluating that as a dependency matter," Cleary said.

Police took the boys back to their parents Saturday.

State law (419c133) says no youth under 12 years old should be placed in detention -- except if there has been judicial review and a judge is persuaded that detention would be in the best interests of the youth, Cleary said.

If police thought the threat was substantial, police could have sought a judge's review this weekend. Prosecutors can still pursue detention involving the 11-year-old under judicial review, if they file a delinquency petition.

No court action is scheduled in this case Monday.

The 11-year-old boy is a sixth-grade student at one of the middle schools in the David Douglas School District, said Dan McCue, a school district spokesman. The 11-year-old was not at school on Monday, McCue said. He didn't know why.

"In these kinds of cases, we generally do a risk assessment or safety screening when there's any kind of feeling a student poses a risk to themselves or others,'' McCue said.

According to Multnomah County records, there have been nine cases involving kids 11 years old or younger with weapons in the county since 2009. In 2009, there were two such cases; in 2010, three, in 2011, two; and this year, two, according to Dave Austin, Multnomah County spokesman.

"Whenever any child gets their hands on a firearm, that's reason enough to be concerned,'' said Dave Riley, a Multnomah County juvenile counselor. "One time is too many, as far as we're concerned. Our job here is to make sure the community is safe, and that children and families who get involved in cases like these get the support they need.''

Police became involved after responding to a call at 16000 SE Alder St. around 12:15 p.m. Saturday.

A 22-year-old woman, Amy Garrett of Southeast Portland, told police said she had been sitting in her truck in the Freedom Foursquare Church parking lot when two boys tried to carjack her.

Garrett told officers the younger boy told the older one to "show her your piece." The older boy lifted his shirt and showed her a gun. The woman told police she refused to give them the truck. The kids then demanded her phone and money, threatening to shoot her and saying they couldn't leave without something, police said.

Garrett then threw her truck in reverse and sped out of the parking lot, she told police.

When officers caught up with the boys, police said, the older boy told the younger one to run, but both were stopped at the south side of the church.

Officers told the older boy to keep his hands out of his pockets but he ignored them. They grabbed his arms and recovered a cocked and loaded .22 caliber handgun in his pocket, police said.

Garrett told The Oregonian Monday that the 11-year-old boy's father started cussing at police when he learned his son was in the back of a patrol car for questioning on Saturday.

"He was screaming at the cops, saying he has a right to know why his son was in the back of a cop car,'' Garrett said.

Garrett said she was surprised the 11-year-old boy who threatened her has not been taken off the street. "I think he should have been taken somewhere - to a military school or something,'' Garrett said.

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Police arrested a Portland father on weapons charges and took his son, the suspect in a recent attempted carjacking and armed robbery, into protective custody Tuesday.
Joseph Charlton's arrest comes three days after a woman reported that his 11-year-old son threatened her with a gun and tried to carjack her. The boy had been taken into custody but was then released to his parents.
Charlton was arrested Tuesday morning for having an unsecured firearm at their home on SE 160th Avenue and Alder Street. Already a convicted felon,Charlton was charged with unlawful possession of a firearm, endangering the welfare of a minor and endangering a child by allowing access to a firearm.
The Oregon Department of Human Services also took the 11-year-old boy into protective custody, along with his 4-year-old sister and 9-year-old brother who were in the home.
Neighbors said the 11-year old often bragged about having access to a gun. "He's told my brother, he's told other kids around the apartments around here that his dad had a gun and he could get a hold of it anytime he wanted to. And obviously, it happened," said Audryanna Waldron, who lives nearby.
Kids accused in attempted carjacking and armed robbery
In the attempted carjacking, Ami Garrett, 22, said she was sitting in her truck Saturday when the 11-year-old and a 7-year-old boy approached her in a church parking lot as she waited for her parents, according to Sgt. Pete Simpson with the Portland Police Bureau.
More: Young boys accused of attempted armed robbery
"They told me they were going to blow my brains out if I didn't give them something," Garrett said.
The young woman managed to get away safely and alerted police, who soon found the boys nearby. Simpson said the 11-year old had a loaded gun. Investigators believe the gun belonged to his father, who had left it unsecured.
After the boys were captured for the carjacking, Simpson said the juvenile justice center was not set up to handle such young kids, so officers took them home to their parents. As of Tuesday night, the 7-year old was still in his parents' custody.
Neighbors held a meeting Monday night, concerned that the children were there and other problems could develop. Police assured them that extra patrols would be going through the area.
Background: Concerned neighbors hold meeting
Charlton is the first person to be arrested under a new Portland city ordinance prohibiting adults from leaving unsecured firearms where minors can access them.

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Portland police have taken a Southeast Portland man into custody under a city ordinance prohibiting adults from leaving unsecured firearms where minors can get them.

The arrest of Joseph Daniel Charlton, 34, stemmed from Saturday's armed robbery attempt that police say was committed by two boys age 11 and 7.

The gun was a .22-caliber derringer pistol, said Sgt. Pete Simpson, spokesman for the Portland Police Bureau.

"We're trying to figure out who had possession of the derringer and how it got in the hands of an 11 year-old boy," Simpson said.

About 10 a.m., the Police Bureau's Gun Task Force served a search warrant at 16111 S.E. Alder St. in connection with the case. The state Department of Human Services took a 4-year-old girl, the 11-year-old accused in the gun case and a 9-year-old into protective custody.

"The overall conditions in home, circumstances, are not healthy for kids," Simpson said of the decision to take the children into protective custody.

Police also obtained search warrants for two Dodge trucks belonging to the family. Multnomah County animal control officers removed two animals, a cat and a dog, from the property, police said.

The home searched sits next door to the Freedom Foursquare Church, where 22-year-old Amy Garrett said she was accosted Saturday by an 11-year-old with with a gun and a 7-year-old toting bullets in a backpack.

"We have probable cause to arrest the dad for at least leaving the gun unsecured," Simpson said.

Police also charged Charlton, a convicted felon, with felon in possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of a firearm, endangering the welfare of a minor and endangering a child by allowing access to a firearm under the city's two-year-old ordinance. No other guns were found inside the home during the search, police said.

Charlton is the first person in Portland to be prosecuted under the city ordinance.

Portland police said the 11-year-old was armed with a loaded .22-caliber handgun and threatened Amy Garrett, 22, in her pickup truck while she was parked at Freedom Foursquare Church at Southeast Alder Street and 160th Avenue on Saturday. Garrett said the 11-year-old boy and a 7-year-old boy, who she said pulled a box of bullets from his backpack, demanded her pickup, then money and her phone.

She drove away safely.

Police returned the children to their parents on Saturday. Neighbors have said they've had numerous run-ins with the 11-year-old boy and have complained unsuccessfully to his father.

On Tuesday, Andrea Brush, on-site manager of the Alder Royal Apartments near Charlton's home, pumped her fist in air when she learned Joseph Charlton had been arrested.

"Parents need to be held liable," she said. "Those are minor children. The parents can't take care of them. Somebody's got to."

Kevin George, who provides security for Freedom Foursquare Church and lives across the street, expressed similar feelings.

"It's about time they did something," said George.

George said he has called police at least five times in the past 18 months regarding complaints of vandalism and trespass involving the 11-year-old boy who police say attempted a robbery with a gun Saturday.

"I think the arrest will show the city that the Portland police and the court system are doing their job," George said.

While police have talked to the 11-year-old boy's parents in the past about neighborhood complaints, "this should really open their eyes," George said, of the boy's parents.

Tom Cleary, a Multnomah County senior deputy district attorney, said authorities have not decided yet whether to pursue a delinquency action against the 11-year-old boy.

Charlton pleaded guilty in February 2003 to fourth-degree assault, a Class C felony, court records show.

Portland's City Council unanimously approved the ordinance on Dec. 1 2010, intending to hold adults responsible if their guns get into children's hands.

It was one of five city gun measures passed by the council in an effort to reduce gun violence in the city. In doing so, the council joined other major cities around the country, led by mayors who pressed to adopt gun control measures that their state lawmakers would or could not.

Text of the ordinance is in the body of this post below.

Mayor Sam Adams offered this written reaction to Tuesday's arrest: "Like most American cities, Portland is swamped with illegal guns like stolen guns. Illegal guns that kill and injure Portlanders. Adults keeping their weapons out of reach of children is not only basic common sense, in Portland it is the law."

The new ordinance approved two years ago created a new crime, endangering a child by allowing access to a firearm. It set a sliding scale of penalties involving jail time and a fine, dependent upon danger to community.

Under the ordinance, an adult would be guilty of the crime if he failed to prevent access to a firearm, whether loaded or unloaded, to a child without permission or the permission of a parent or guardian.

The penalty increases if the child carries the firearm off the gun owner's premises - as police said was done in Saturday's attempted carjacking and attempted robbery in the lot of the Freedom Foursquare Church.

An adult would face the most severe penalty if the child carried the firearm to a school or school-related event.

Penny Okamoto, executive director of Ceasefire Oregon, said she's been wondering when the city was going to enforce the two-year-old ordinance.

Okamoto said she's heard of other cases in the past and has questioned why the new city law wasn't used until now.

"I'm glad they're finally enforcing it," Okamoto said. "I'm just so grateful no one was injured in this case."

Okamoto said the circumstances also raise the question as to who sold the father, Joe Charlton, a convicted felon, the .22-caliber gun.

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Charges:

DUII (A Misdemeanor)
RECKLESS DRIVING (A Misdemeanor)
Booking Information
SWIS ID: 655976
Name: Charlton, Joseph D
Age: 32
Gender: Male
Race: White
Height: 5 ft 9 in
Weight: 170 lbs
Hair: Blonde
Eyes: Blue
Arresting Agency: Portland Police, East Precinct
Arrest Date: 2/11/2011 6:59 PM
Booking Date: 2/11/2011 9:28 PM
Current Status: Released
Assigned Facility: PERM
Projected Release Date: Unknown
Release Date: 2/12/2011
Release Reason: Bail
Court Case No. None DA Case No. None Citation No. None
Charge Bail Status
DUII (A Misdemeanor) $0 Disposed
RECKLESS DRIVING (A Misdemeanor) $0 Disposed

Members of the Portland police gun task force arrested the father of one of two young boys accused of being involved in a recent armed robbery attempt, a police spokesman said Tuesday.

Sgt. Pete Simpson said Joseph Charlton, 34, was arrested in his home in the 16000 block of Southeast Alder Street while officers served a search warrant.

Charlton faces a charge of leaving an unsecured firearm for a minor. The charge is a city ordinance that is being used for the first time, Simpson said. It is one of several that were put into place in 2010 with the goal of curbing gun violence in Portland.

The armed robbery happened Saturday. According to investigators, two young boys approached a woman in the parking lot of Freedom Foursquare Church (located next door to the home where the father was arrested) and tried to steal her truck. Police said an 11-year-old boy flashed a handgun during the robbery.

"He said it was fully-loaded and cocked and ready to go," the victim, Amy Garrett said. "He told me he was going to blow my brains out if I didn't give him anything."

Garrett said when she refused to give the boys her truck, they demanded her wallet and phone and told her they would shoot her if she didn’t give them anything.

"My heart was beating a million miles a minute," she said. "I'm surprised it didn't completely beat out of my chest. I was very scared."

When officers responded, they spotted the two boys, who tried to run away. Officers stopped them near the church and told the 11-year-old to keep his hands out of his pockets. Simpson said the boy refused and an officer grabbed his arms. That's when the officer found a cocked and loaded handgun in the boy's pocket.

That boy's father, the man who was arrested on Tuesday, had spoken with KATU the day before and said he was trying to get his son on the right path. He also said the gun used in the crime did not come from his son.

"My son said they had basically acquired the gun from a local troublemaker in the neighborhood," Charlton said at the time.

During Charlton's arrest, his three children (a 4-year-old, 9-year-old and the 11-year-old accused of the armed robbery) were taken into protective custody. Simpson said the childrens' mother is not facing charges.

Charlton has a criminal record for multiple assaults and spent three years behind bars (from 2002 and 2005).

Later in the afternoon on Tuesday, an officer began searching two trucks parked in front of Charlton's home. Animal services had also been at the home earlier and removed at least one animal.

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Unbelievable.

A juvenile referee Wednesday ordered an 11-year-old boy accused of trying to carjack and rob a woman at gunpoint in a church parking lot last weekend to remain in a foster home with electronic monitoring.

The boy, wearing a blue T-shirt, blue jeans and sneakers, fidgeted in his seat during the brief juvenile court hearing.

He faces allegations of first-degree and second-degree robbery and unlawful possession of a firearm stemming from an attempted carjacking on Saturday in the lot of the Freedom Foursquare Church next to his house on Southeast Alder Street.

The boy is also accused in a Nov. 15 alleged robbery and harassment at a Portland school, authorities said Wednesday.

His father, Joseph Daniel Charlton, 34, sits in Multnomah County Detention Center, accused of allowing his 11-year-old son access to a gun left unsecured in their home.

Charlton pleaded not guilty on Wednesday.

The boy is the second child under age 12 to face gun charges in Portland this year.

Prosecutor Joel Peterson and Multnomah County juvenile court counselor Dave Riley had urged the court to place the boy in juvenile detention. They argued he's a threat to the community and his alleged victims.

"The youth poses a community safety concern at this point," Riley said. "We just want to make sure we have enough time to make an appropriate safety plan."

Prosecutor Joel Petersen pointed out that the two alleged incidents occurred within three weeks of one another.

The boy's mother, Kathryn Carlton, attended the proceeding before juvenile Judicial Referee Lisa Fithian-Barrett.

Kathryn Charlton countered that her 11-year-old son isn't dangerous.

"I don't believe he's a threat to anybody," Kathryn Carlton said in court. "If he is placed in his foster home, he's not going to be going anywhere or doing anything."

The boy's attorney, Chris McCormack argued that for the court to detain a child under age 12, it has to make written findings that it would be in the child's best interests.

"I haven't heard any statements why it's in my client's best interests to stay in detention," McCormack said.

McCormack suggested to the court that the boy's troubles may have been due to lack of parental control.

"It sounds like there may have been a lack of supervision which led to the alleged incidents," McCormack said.

Fithian-Barrett decided against detention, but set strict conditions for the 11-year-old's stay at a foster home. He must not leave the house without an adult. He can't have contact with any victims. He must attend school, not possess any weapons (even fake ones) or harass anyone. He must wear an electric-monitoring anklet at all times.

"I need to make sure you understand this is an extremely serious matter," referee Fithian-Barrett said, addressing the child.

If he does not comply with the rules, she warned him that her only option will be to place him in juvenile detention.

"I don't want to do that," Fithian-Barrett told the boy. "I want to give you the chance to be in a home with appropriate supervision to keep you safe."

The 11-year-old nodded is head, and told the referree, "OK."

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Continuing coverage of two boys accused of attempted carjacking in Southeast Portland.The state Department of Human Services took the boy, and his two younger siblings, a 4-year-old girl and 7-year-old boy, into protective custody Tuesday, after Portland police arrested the boy’s father at their home at 16111 S.E. Alder St.

Portland police said the 11-year-old boy was armed with a loaded .22-caliber Derringer handgun and threatened Amy Garrett, 22, in her pickup truck while she was parked at Freedom Foursquare Church about noon Saturday. Garrett said the 11-year-old and a 7-year-old boy, carrying a backpack with bullets, demanded her pickup, then money and her phone.

Garrett drove away. A mother who lives across the street called 9-1-1 when her son, also 11, ran home to report having seen a gun. Police caught the two boys and returned them to their parents.

The 11-year-old's lawyer said his client has assured him he's willing to follow all the court's orders.

"He's pretty shaken up, and he's very distraught," McCormack said after the hearing. "He's definitely afraid."

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The 11-year-old Portland boy accused of trying to carjack and rob a woman at gunpoint with his dad's gun on Saturday had fired the gun into the air four times behind his house earlier that day, according to a court affidavit released Wednesday.

The boy's younger sister, age 4, was in the yard at the time, the boy's friend told Portland police.

The 11-year-old's father, Joseph D. Charlton, 34, was asleep on the couch inside their home on Southeast Alder Street at the time, the friend told authorities according to a probable cause affidavit released Wednesday.

Charlton was arraigned in Multnomah County Circuit Court Wednesday afternoon on allegations of endangering a child by allowing access to a firearm, endangering the welfare of a minor, felon in possession of a firearm, and unlawful possession of a firearm.

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Continuing coverage of two boys accused of attempted carjacking in Southeast Portland.Charlton told police that his fingerprints would be on the gun that officers recovered from his son on Saturday.

The boy's mother, Kathryn Charlton, told police that her husband had obtained the .22-caliber Derringer handgun a couple of months earlier for protection because "some guys were after him,'' the affidavit said.

Kathryn Charlton said her husband stored the gun in his truck, and that's where her son had grabbed it, the affidavit said.

Kathryn Charlton told police she had seen her husband inside their home with the firearm, and that he had two rifles in the house as well but had gotten rid of them about a week earlier, the affidavit said.

According to testimony in juvenile court Wednesday afternoon, Kathryn Charlton's attorney told a juvenile judicial referee that the 11-year-old's mom didn't know there were any firearms in the house, except for an Airsoft firearm.

The 11-year-old, and his younger siblings, a 4-year-old girl and a 7-year-old boy, has been ordered to remain in a foster care home in the temporary custody of the state Department of Human Services, despite his mom's attempt to convince a judge to allow him to stay with his paternal grandmother.

About noon on Saturday, the 11-year-old is accused of trying to carjack and rob a woman who was seated in her parked pickup truck in the lot of the Freedom Foursquare Church.

When the motorist, Amy Garrett, 22, asked the boy if his gun was real, he told her, "You don't question if the gun is real (expletive), that is how you get shot. I will blow your brains out if you don't hand over your stuff,'' and pulled out the firearm, the affidavit said.

Garrett drove off, and police stopped the 11-year-old boy, and his 7-year-old friend who was with him.

According to the friend, the 11-year-old boy found the gun hidden in an area of his house where the 11-year-old's father was seen working on his rifles in the past, the affidavit said.

"It's confusing. Everyone has a different story,'' said deputy district attorney J. Eric Zimmerman.

The gun recovered by police from the 11-year-old was cocked and loaded, the affidavit said. Police also observed the pistol had fresh powder on it, suggesting it had recently been fired, the affidavit said.

The 11-year-old boy's friend told police that the 4-year-old sister who was present when the gun was fired earlier Saturday ended up having a bloody nose. Zimmerman said it's unclear how the child got the bloody nose, and whether or not it was related to her brother's alleged firing of the pistol.

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