Three suspects were arrested by the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office this week for entering a pregnant woman’s home and attacking her, according to a statement released by the FCSO after the fact. All three suspects were female, and two of them were 15 and 17 years old respectively. The other is 20-year-old Cassandra Wilkes, a resident of Bunnell.
In the FCSO’s recounting of the incident, the victim stated that she heard a bang at her residence on Cherry Lane in Bunnell on Saturday. When she went to see what was happening, the three suspects are said to have entered her home angry over a dispute regarding a cell phone. According to Sheriff Rick Staly, this dispute was due to a misunderstanding, and the victim did not even have the phone the trio were worried about.
After they entered, Wilkes is said to have then punched the victim in the face beneath her left eye. The victim, a pregnant woman, swung back and connected, at which point a male occupant of the home heard what was happening and helped fight the three outside and back into their car. They were said to then leave the scene in a white sedan.
When interviewed by deputies about the incident, the victim said she could only recognize and identify Wilkes as being the one who’d punched her. Deputies tried that night to track down Wilkes, but were reportedly not able to find her. They did, however, locate her at her residence the following day.
Deputies questioned Wilkes about the incident on Sunday and, according to the FCSO, Wilkes denied having left her home when the incident took place. She said that since she was on probation with a curfew of 9:00 pm, she was disallowed from having done so. Still, deputies say she could not provide evidence she was actually home, with others in the house saying they hadn’t seen her inside around that time.
Wilkes was arrested at that point for burglary with assault or battery, plus aggravated battery on a pregnant person. On top of that, she was charged with violation of probation for having left her house in the first place, and for committing a crime while out. She was booked into the county jail with no bond, and remains there as of Tuesday afternoon.
The minors in the incident were also located by deputies, and interviewed about their alleged involvement. At first deputies were only looking for information on Wilkes through them, and the teens reportedly said they didn’t know there had been an incident at the house that night. Following Wilkes’ arrest, the teens are said to have told deputies that they had, in fact, been with Wilkes. They were each arrested and charged with being an accessory after the fact to burglary with assault/battery, and accessory after the fact to aggravated battery on a pregnant person. They were also taken to the county jail, before then being turned over to the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice.
Post their pics and names if they want to do stupid crimes they need to be treated like a criminal. Just because they are under age is not a reason to not post their names and mugshots. They someone needs to slap the parents for not doing their job.
With full respect to the desire for accountability, journalistic ethics support not posting minors’ names and identities when it’s not already in heavy circulation and when the alleged crimes are not grave, violent, and/or felonious.
Also important here is that we don’t know what exact role the minors had in the alleged crime. The FCSO charged them, yes, but they also chose not to outright accuse them of knowingly & willfully helping facilitate battery. That detail, while seemingly trivial, makes it advisable to uphold the anonymity which was facilitated by the FCSO so as to preclude the possibility of undue burden falling upon two teenagers.
Good God, go get a job and quit hanging around with teenagers. You might want to consider turning your life around now before it’s too late.