American Notes CRIME

It was shortly before noon when the gang of thieves struck. By ripping a screen and prying open a ground-floor window, they entered the Lily Furgerson Child Development Center in Waterloo, Iowa, and swiftly made off with $350 worth of goods. But the weekend burglary had a twist. The robbers were three small children ages 4, 5 and 7. The loot: three fancy tricycles.

The pint-size pilferers somehow managed to hoist the heavy steel trikes out the window before joyriding four blocks to a nearby youth club. A neighbor saw them break into the club and called police, who nabbed the two preschoolers. The savvier ringleader escaped through a second-floor window of the youth club, only to be found later cowering under a bed at the day-care center. The child, whose name was withheld, was charged last week with two counts of second-degree burglary, which police expect to drop. His two accomplices, however, were released to the kind of sentencing only red-faced parents can hand down.