Posted on 12/11/2025 8:59:28 AM PST by MtnClimber
It should have been a good time for the teenage football team from Philadelphia.
They'd won their division championship, and this past Saturday, the whole team was in Polk County, Florida, for the tournament and championship game.
Now, let me take a minute to set the stage. Polk County is a beautiful place, and lots of folks visit from all over the country. There's one thing Polk County has that the rest of the country doesn't - a sheriff named Grady Judd, affectionately known as 'Sheriff Grady.'
He's a character, and none of it is an act - it's really him.
Here's a sample. [X video at link]
Okay. Back to the boys down from Philly for the football game.
...The juvenile suspects, part of the United Thoroughbreds under-14 team, were hours away from kickoff in the Prolifix Nationals tournament when they decided to take an Uber to the store in Davenport, Florida, on Dec. 6, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office said.
Apparently, the lads had some free time on their hands and didn't use the best judgment in taking advantage of it, although they did act as a team.
On Saturday, Dec. 6, eight teenagers – who were in Polk County from Pennsylvania to compete in a football tournament, the sheriff's office said – were arrested for felony retail theft, which occurred at Posner Plaza in Davenport.
Around 11 a.m., the teenagers entered Dick’s Sporting Goods in two separate groups to commit fraud from the store, officials said. Their ages range from 14 to 15 years old. According to surveillance footage, the sheriff's office said the first group walked around the store looking at merchandise, while the second group made a purchase near the front of the store. After, the teens met in the middle of the school and began putting more store merchandise in the bag, deputies said.
Three teens took the bag past the point of sale and out of the store. The other five remained inside. The store manager contacted the sheriff's office about the theft and deputies detained all eight suspects.
One of their coaches said he'd gone to 'wake the boys up to pray,' and, lo and behold, they weren't there. Then he got a phone call, 'Come get us.'
...Bynes said he went to go wake the boys up for prayer when he found that eight of them were not in their beds.
“I got a phone call simultaneously saying that, 'Hey coach, can you come get us from from Dick Sporting Goods?' And when I got there, that's when I found out everything that was going on," Bynes recalled.
Kind of a surprise to him.
Every last lad was charged with a felony for conspiracy to commit retail theft and felony retail theft over $750 (a fellow has the receipts toted up here from the sheriff's office), they missed their championship game, and their team lost.
Sheriff Grady held a press conference and gave a blow-by-blow account of the youth team's effort to relieve Dick's Sporting Goods of $2296 in merchandise using the five-finger discount.
[X video of press briefing and store surveillance video at link]
Do watch it.
What surprised Sheriff Grady was the coach advocating for leniency. Coach Bynes obviously didn't know anything about Polk County and must have been working off what would normally happen in Philly.
...During the arrest, the team’s coach, Raekwon Bynes, was called to the store and began pleading with cops and store employees to release the players, Judd said.
“The coach who is responsible for them, you’d think he would be interested in holding them accountable and responsible, instead, he goes to the deputies and begs them not to take these young men into custody,” Judd said.
“Oh don’t arrest them, drop the charges, let them go,” the coach allegedly said, according to the sheriff.
“They were not taking bubble gum, one piece to chew. They stole over $2,000 worth of products. And when it was evident that they were going to be arrested, the coach says, ‘Don’t you guys have anything better to do than arrest these kids,'” Judd said.
DON'T YOU HAVE ANYTHING BETTER TO DO THAN ARREST THESE KIDS?
Well, dang - that's not the right way to talk to deputies, dude.
Sheriff Grady set him straight.
...“I don’t know how you do things in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but in Polk County, Florida, we lock you up for stealing, for being a thief,” he added.
A sportswriter for the Dallas Cowboys was spooling himself up to go on a racist rant over the youths having their photos and names splashed all over the news.
Clarence Hill Jr
@clarencehilljr
Why are they showing the names and mugshots of juveniles
He was swiftly schooled that in Florida, if you're 14 or older and charged with a felony, you're treated just like an adult, public picture and all. No more juvenile delinquent privileges.
The rules are different here. There are consequences for actions in other places.
...Bynes said the teens arrested are no longer on the team because they both aged out and also as a consequence of their actions.
And then there are CONSEQUENCES for actions.
...Florida authorities have made clear the state will pursue the charges according to its stricter theft laws, signaling that organized shoplifting won’t be treated as a minor offense.
We like those rules here.
And are pretty fond of Sheriff Grady.
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Grady arrested a bunch of DinDoNuffins.
Oh noes! You mean the dintdonuffin mutts don’t get away with instant reparations the way they do in blue states? Oh noes!
Sheriff Grady’s press briefing is worth watching. I love that guy. Reminds me of Sheriff Joe Arpaio in his best years in Maricopa County, AZ.
I love that Grady took the coach to task and told him he is failing his young men by intervening for them and for not inculcating no-nonsense rules and values in the boys. The coach is pathetic for whining like a baby.
That coach needs to be fired.
The coach asked if the cops didn’t have anything better to do than arrest thieves.
This was said after he went to get the boys so they could pray.
Fake insincere prayers from a fake insincere coach.
Was the coach white?
Big time.
It’s a shame the article didn’t show a picture of the coach.
Yup, sounds like Coach Raekwon Burns is a big part of the problem here.
And the DinDoNuffins have only themselves to blame.
Obviously.
The fruits of 60 years of marxist race-marxist and victimhood ideology on display right there.
14 year-olds being told “awww, let them go” and “these kids didn’t know what they were doing” simply leads to 30 year-olds thinking “awww let them go” and “I wasn’t responsible for anything I did....”
The “rules” aren’t different. These aren’t “rules”. Yahtzee and Trivial pursuit have rules.
These are laws, and laws are most likely the same or similar, but it’s a matter of enforcement.
“Why are they showing the names and mugshots of juveniles?”
Because only an idiot would believe laws or policies that provide for juveniles to commit crimes and remain anonymous is a good idea. It’s possible that the intentions behind this were good, but the problem with Leftists, and it’s a big one, they only ever consider intentions, and not the results, or unintended consequences.
Shielding juveniles is absolutely destructive in myriad ways and increases crime. We have a right to know who these miscreants are. Youth should never be a “get out of jail free” card, and adult felons recruit juvies to do their dirty work.
“Ban the box” legislation is especially retarded, and only serves in the long run to punish people who do the right thing and stay out of trouble in the first place. Leftists are so reflexively bass-ackwards and wrong on any given issue it appears as if they are saboteurs at this point. Sorry for the lecture but this is one of those sore points with me.
News articles in many jurisdictions are completely useless now. “Somebody did something. Police are asking for the public’s help”. Yeah, I’m sure they will get plenty of tips that way.
Lads....
Their coach, Raekwon Bynes, 29....
And when it was evident that they were going to be arrested, the coach says, ‘Don’t you guys have anything better to do than arrest these kids,’”
——-
There’s a big part of the problem right there. An ambulatory POS “coach”. Too bad they couldn’t arrest him too.
I like the part where “I went to wake them up to pray”. Lo and behold, the stone was rolled away! They weren’t there! It’s a Miracle, I tell ya. So disgusted with these low frequency clowns in positions of authority. No business being a coach whatsoever. None.
“Was the coach white?”
I’ve not see a photo of the coach or even his name. I think we know the answer.
“Sports builds character,” was my dad’s motto for about the first twenty years of his teaching/coaching career. By 1980 he wasn’t saying it very much, and by 2000 he would only say it sarcastically.
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