Community service ordered for teen in 'Scream' holdup
A Grand Island teenager was spared jail Tuesday for her role in what a judge called the "ill-conceived" attempt to rob a Baseline Road restaurant in which she and two accomplices wore horror movie costumes and carried a hammer and hacksaw.
Caitlin Connelly, 17, was granted youthful offender status on her felony conspiracy plea in the case by acting State Supreme Court Justice Joseph M. McCarthy. He cited what he called her minimal role in the caper and the foot injury she suffered in the early-morning fiasco last winter.
The youthful offender status spares Connelly a criminal record on her May 3 pre-indictment guilty plea.
McCarthy questioned Connelly's immature judgment in agreeing to take part in the costumed heist about 1 a.m. Feb. 9 at Cathy & Jim's Del & Herb's restaurant at 1270 Baseline Road. But he credited her for her recent high school graduation.
The judge ordered her to continue the professional counseling she has been getting since her arrest.
He also ordered her to perform 50 hours of community service on Grand Island while she is on court-supervised probation for the next five years and to no longer associate with co-defendants Kandria Matthews and Krystal Rains.