Three 16-year-olds are being charged as adults and two others are on the run after allegedly barging into a Cobb County home and robbing other teenagers early Tuesday morning.
The homeowner, Isabel Lay-Meireles, told Channel 2 Action News her son had friends over Monday night to play video games. However, she didn’t know any girls were coming over until they were taken away in handcuffs.
Sarah Austin and America Lesesne were hanging out with the group of teen boys at the house near Powder Springs when three other people walked in, Cobb police told Channel 2.
Thomas Poole, along with two unidentified suspects, held the group at gunpoint and demanded an iPhone and Gucci wallet from the group, according to an arrest warrant obtained by the news station.
Lay-Meireles’ son wasn’t in the room during the robbery, but ran and woke up his sleeping parents after hearing the commotion, Channel 2 reported.
“I just heard robbery, guns, and I jumped out of the bed,” she said. “And I just ran outside. I was calling 911.”
Police arrived shortly after, and they were able to arrest Austin, Poole and Lesesne. However, the other two alleged robbers got away. Lay-Meireles believes the two teen girls were planted there to help set up the armed robbery.
“The one girl has been at my house one time,” she told Channel 2. “You set me up. You don’t do that to me.”
The three teens are being held in the Cobb County Adult Detention Center on charges of first-degree burglary-home invasion, armed robbery and aggravated assault, according to jail records.
While police search for the two remaining suspects, Lay-Meireles told the news station she punished her son for having girls over without her permission.
Anyone with information about this incident is asked to contact police at 770-499-3900 or submit an online tip here.
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