Two Texas teen girls stand accused of stealing a necklace from the body of a dead man they found in a drainage culvert on Monday. The incident came to light when one of the girls reportedly uploaded a video of the incident to a social media platform.
Bexar County, Texas, Sheriff Javier Salazar told a group of local business leaders attending a Wednesday morning breakfast that he was “shook” by the incident, KENS CBS5 reported.
“When my homicide sergeant pulled me aside and said ‘I’m going to show you video that’s going to be very, very disturbing,’ and he showed me the video and it was, I’m, I’m shook! I am still shook. I’m disturbed by it,” the sheriff told the group.
Bexar County Sheriff’s Office investigators received a copy of a video showing the two teenage girls stealing a necklace from the body of a man they found dead in a drainage ditch on the west side of the county, the news outlet reported.
Officials reported the girls to be 16 and 17 years of age. The older is being charged an an adult with theft from a human corpse or grave — a state jail felony. The younger girl also faces currently undisclosed charges. The court released the 17-year-old girl under a $2,000 bond.
“One was filming the other taking a necklace off of the young man who was passed, passed away, and it was disturbing because they’re laughing. ‘I can’t believe you’re doing this,’ or words to that effect, treating it as a joke,” Sheriff Salazar explained.
The girls reportedly told the investigators they took the necklace and medallion because one of the girls liked it because it “matched here fashion style.”
“It makes you think ‘what have we come to as a society?’ where not only do these young folks feel like it’s okay to do that but then that video ends up on social media,” the sheriff concluded.
The girls later called a male friend to the scene, the local CBS affiliate revealed. The three eventually called 911 to report the body but did not disclose taking the necklace and medallion. One of the girls reportedly discarded the chain and took the pendant home and placed it on a gold necklace of her own. She eventually surrendered the item after being confronted by police with the video.
“It’s disturbing no matter how you look at it and I don’t know what the fix is. I don’t believe it’s prison. I believe some mental health help is in order,” Sheriff Salazar concluded. “I don’t know what the solution is for children like them, because that’s what they are, is children. Legally, yes, they are in an adult jail now but they’re kids and I don’t believe that they are beyond helping. I think that they’re very much worthy of helping.”
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior news contributor for the Breitbart Texas-Border team. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday-morning talk show. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook.