SUMMERFIELD, Fla. (AP) — A 14-year-old girl caused a stir at a north Florida middle school when she handed out greater than $10,000 that she is accused of stealing from her grandmother, officials said.
Marion County deputies responded to Lake Weir Middle School in Summerfield on Thursday after reports that a student was giving classmates lots of of dollars each, in line with an arrest report. Summerfield is about 60 miles (100 kilometers) northwest of Orlando.
School officials conducted a search of the girl’s backpack and located about $2,500, deputies said. The girl said she had been given the cash by an unknown former student who wanted the cash disseminated. It was later determined that the girl had broken into her grandmother’s home secure and stolen about $13,500 of the lady’s life savings, investigators said.
The arrest report doesn’t say why the girl allegedly took the cash or why she gave it away to her classmates.
By Friday, officials had recovered about $700 of the cash that had been given to other students. That cash and the $2,500 recovered from the girl’s backpack were returned to the grandmother.
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The girl is facing a grand theft charge.
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