City teen charged in break-in at Shell Creek

COLUMBUS -- A 16-year-old Columbus boy accused of breaking into a Shell Creek-area home north of the city Sept. 20 and being interrupted when the family returned home has been bound over for trial in Platte County District Court.

Platte County Court Judge Frank Skorupa scheduled the city teen for a first appearance hearing Dec. 12 in district court on a charge of burglary. The teen has been charged as an adult in the case.

Burglary is a Class III felony, punishable by a maximum of 20 years imprisonment, $25,000 fine or both and a minimum of one year imprisonment.

Skorupa also revoked the teen’s 12-month adult probation sentence in connection with an August incident in which the boy was cited for minor in possession of alcohol.

The judge resentenced the teen to five days in jail for the MIP conviction.

The boy, who has had numerous brushes with law enforcement authorities in the last five years, is not being named because of his age. The teen has been held at Northeast Nebraska Juvenile Services in Madison since his arrest.

Two other men have been accused of participating in the Sept. 20 burglary, one as a lookout and a second as a getaway driver.

Those defendants, 18-year-old Richard Peralta, of Columbus, and 20-year-old Salvador Anaya-Orozco, of Lincoln, face aiding and abetting burglary charges.

Peralta and Anaya-Orozco are slated for arraignment hearings in district court on Nov. 25. Aiding and abetting burglary is also a Class III felony, with the same maximum and minimum punishments as burglary.

Authorities have said all three defendants are suspected of having gang affiliations.

Court documents in the case described a scene in which the city teen and Peralta were in the midst of burglarizing a rural Columbus home when the family that lived there pulled up in the driveway after attending Saturday morning soccer games.

The defendants hurried out of the house and raced through fields, hiding stolen property while making their escape, according to an arrest affidavit filed by Investigator Joseph Gragert of the Platte County Sheriff’s Department.

The suspects bolted out of the home’s back patio door shortly after the family’s mother drove up and just as her young daughters were walking into the house. The family had been gone less than two hours for the soccer matches.

The teen and Peralta were later arrested after a neighbor of the burglary-victim family found the suspects walking down a county road and held them at gunpoint until sheriff’s deputies arrived.

The suspects stole several items during the break-in, including a shotgun, two rifles, jewelry and a Nintendo Wii game console.

Anaya-Orozco was arrested while sitting alone in a white 1997 Dodge Avenger at Shell Creek Elementary School following a report of a suspicious vehicle in the area.

The teen accused of burglary has had several encounters with law enforcement authorities during the last five years, ranging from disturbing the peace to assault and MIP.

In June last year, the then 15-year-old juvenile admitted brandishing and firing a handgun in connection with a gang-related confrontation at a mid-May carnival in Columbus. He later admitted to a charge of possession of a revolver in juvenile court.

The teen served a stint at the Youth Rehabilitation and Treatment Center in Kearney stemming from the shooting incident.