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Mum has boy arrested for opening present

fed-up mother had her 12-year-old son arrested for allegedly rummaging through his great-grandmother's things and playing with his Christmas present early.

  • AP
  • Published: 00:00 December 7, 2006
  • Gulf News

Columbia, South Carolina: A fed-up mother had her 12-year-old son arrested for allegedly rummaging through his great-grandmother's things and playing with his Christmas present early.

The mother called police on Sunday after learning her son had disobeyed orders and repeatedly taken a Game Boy hand-held video game player from its hiding place at his great-grandmother's house next door and played it. He was arrested on petty larceny charges, taken to the local police station in handcuffs and held until his mother picked him up after church.

"It was only to teach my son a lesson. He's been going through life doing things ... and getting away with it," said the boy's mother, Brandi Ervin.

Police did not release the boy's name.

The mother said her son was diagnosed in the last year with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, but that his medicine does not seem to help. She said he faces an expulsion hearing at his school.

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