No Charges Filed Against Duo Arrested For Armed Robbery
DEERFIELD BEACH (CBS4) - Two women robbed at gunpoint outside their Deerfield Beach condo are feeling victimized again. CBS 4 News has learned that two of the men originally arrested for the crime will not face charges.
One of the victims told CBS 4 News the armed robbery occurred in the early morning hours of October 15 after she and her twin sister returned home from a night out.
The victim -- who did not want to give her name -- said a small teenager -- no more than 5 feet tall -- walked up to them wearing a hockey mask and robbed the women at gunpoint.
"I thought it was a Halloween joke," the victim said. "I really did. He was so small looking."
The victim said the teen then pulled out a large "Dirty Harry" style gun, pointed it in her face and demanded her purse. At first, the victim refused.
Then, she said, the teen got backup.
"I decided to let the pocketbook go when I saw the other gentleman behind him, very large and I knew I was in for something," she said, adding that she fell to the ground and injured her knee which had recently been surgically repaired.
The victim said both men took off running to a car waiting near some hedges and drove off.
The woman ran after them and her sister got their license plate and called 911. Minutes later Broward Sheriff's deputies had four people in custody -- two adults, Courtney Queen and Clenton Jackson, and two juveniles.
Inside their car -- they found the mask, the gun and the women's purses.
But prosecutors decided only to charge the teenage gunman and a teenage driver.
In a close-out memo explaining the decision, prosecutors wrote, "The evidence, however, is not sufficient to prove that either Courtney Queen or Clenton Jackson were active, knowing participants or principals to the crime." Prosecutors admitted that, "It is probable that (Queen and Jackson) were involved," but wrote "There is no reasonable likelihood of a conviction."
When CBS 4 News told the victim what we learned, she was irate.
"I just feel that those two adults are as guilty as those two young juveniles that they set up to handle this robbery," she said.
She added that the men were "in the car with the two juveniles, with my purse, my credit cards, everything on the floor. How can you say they weren't involved?"
The victim suffers emotional and physical scars from the attack. She said she has nightmares, difficulty going out and jumps every time someone walks up behind her. She fears the anxiety will continue for the rest of her life.
"I hope no one ever has to go through something like this in their life because my life has not been the same," she said.
