GRAND RAPIDS, Minn. -- Four teenage residents of a Grand Rapids group home used frying pans, a computer monitor and a sock full of pool balls to attack a staff member before fleeing from the facility, according to criminal charges.
The Itasca County Attorney’s Office this week charged 18-year-old Dacota Geoffrey Smith, and three juveniles with felony offenses in the Saturday morning incident that led to the hospitalization of the worker.
The teens allegedly admitted to police that they devised a plan to use the weapons to beat the staff member in order to gain access to cigarettes, medication and car keys before fleeing the home.
The unidentified staff member sustained a closed head injury, facial fractures, a head wound requiring multiple sutures and multiple contusions to his back, elbow and forearm, according to a criminal complaint.
Three of the teens were arrested on foot later that morning, while the fourth was taken into custody at the group home.
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Smith is charged with one count of first-degree assault, two counts of second-degree assault and one count of third-degree assault. Judge John Maturi on Monday set his bail at $50,000 with conditions or $100,000 without conditions. He will appear in court again on Dec. 22.
The three other suspects are each facing four felony offenses, Itasca County Attorney Jack Muhar said. Because of their ages, the cases are being heard in juvenile court.
Muhar reported that he has filed a motion to have the three certified as adults. Probable cause hearings have been scheduled for Dec. 31, and certification hearings for Jan. 14 and Feb. 4.
The three juveniles are being held in the secure unit at the Itaskin Juvenile Center.
According to the criminal complaint:
Officers were dispatched to the Teens in Transition group home after the employee placed a 911 call at 4:26 a.m. Saturday.
The man told police that he was working when Smith approached him in the office and asked him to get him some crackers for an upset stomach.
The employee said Smith and another teen then punched him and knocked him to the ground, while the other teens got a frying pan and a sock full of pool balls and began assaulting him. He said he was hit on the head with the frying pan and on the upper body with the other weapon.
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The worker said he did not strike back at the teens and was afraid that he was going to be killed.
Smith then began hitting the employee with a computer monitor, as the other three ran out of the office. The employee was eventually able to force Smith out of the office and dial 911 on his cellphone.
Smith was arrested at the group home. The three other teens were arrested on foot after a brief search.
Investigators spoke with Smith and two of the juveniles, all of whom admitted that they had planned the attack. One teen said the four had “talked about how to obtain cigarettes from a locked area controlled by staff at the group home and also discussed a plan to lure the staff member to a bedroom, distract him, assault him, remove facility keys, gain access to a locked office, remove medications and facility vehicle keys and run from the facility.”
Records indicate that Smith is on probation for a fifth-degree assault conviction from Aug. 5. The other suspects also have juvenile criminal history, including fifth-degree assault and third-degree criminal sexual conduct.
