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Tampa Teens To Be Tried As Adults In Home Invasion

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By JOSH POLTILOVE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 27, 2007

TAMPA - Plumber Jonathan Capestany had just finished work on a friend's bathroom on Nov. 1 when he spotted teenagers standing in the living room with a shotgun and a broom handle. The boys demanded his money and threatened his life, and he thought he was going to die.

"I was waiting for the shooting. I was waiting for the kill," he said. "That's how bad it was. I thought I was dead already."

The two boys in the duplex instead took Capestany's van, Tampa police spokesman Cpl. Jared Douds said.

Capestany was the teens' second victim in two days, police say. They were involved with another teenager in a separate home invasion and carjacking, police say.

All three will be treated as adults and face felony charges of carjacking with a deadly weapon, carjacking, kidnapping and robbery-home invasion, state attorney's office spokeswoman Pam Bondi said.

Shelton Donnell Scott, 14, held the broom handle in the Nov. 1 incident, a police report states. He was arrested Nov. 5, and moved to the Orient Road Jail on Sunday when he was charged as an adult.

It wasn't immediately clear where the other boys, Roy Shawn Walker, 15, and Joel S. Green, 14, are being held. State law prohibits the state Department of Juvenile Justice from saying where juveniles are being held, department spokeswoman Samadhi Jones said.

Green was only involved in the Nov. 3 incident, where one of the teens struck a man with a rock in Copeland Park in Tampa, Douds said. The trio threatened the man and led him home, where they took his property and fled in his 2004 Toyota Camry.

All three have been previously arrested on felony charges. The adjudication of those cases could not be determined because they are juveniles.

Scott, Walker and Green have not been charged as adults before, Bondi said. They face the current charges because of "the severity of the crime," she said.

Scott's mother, Komanitha Mullins, said her son should be treated as a juvenile and not an adult. She said he's had prior charges and at the time she made him turn himself in.

"I know these are serious charges," Mullins said. "He is aware of that. He is not a dumb child. He fell into the hands of some bad friends."

Walker no longer is enrolled at a Hillsborough County school, district spokeswoman Linda Cobbe said. He briefly was enrolled as a sixth-grader at Van Buren Middle School earlier this school year.

His family could not be reached, nor could Green's family.

Scott, of 1401 E. 97th Ave., remained in Orient Road Jail on Monday with no bail set.

"Hopefully from the arrests and some of the other things, it'll get a clear message to him that that sort of behavior isn't going to be tolerated and he needs to find another path in life," Douds said.

After the carjacking incident, Capestany found a new path as well. He bought a gun to protect himself.

"I've got to defend myself, man," he said. "I hope I don't ever have to use it."

Reporter Josh Poltilove can be reached at (813) 259-7691 or jpoltilove@tampatrib.com.

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