Olivia Raymond, 13, was arrested in Elgin last week. ABC7 talked to the girl's mother about the accusations and the charges.
Olivia Raymond is an honors student, band member, and now accused felon. The 13-year-old's mother broke the news to her daughter that she has been officially charged for felony theft for allegedly stealing Ray Ban sunglasses."The police officer told me that he and the assistant principal both tried to convince her not to file charges," said mother Rochelle Raymond.
The alleged incident took place last week in the band room. Because she is criminally charged, Olivia has been advised not to talk about it. But her mother says Olivia never stole the sunglasses. Instead, she says she found them on her notebook and was wondering who they belonged to.
"At the end of her class, she found them along with two of her friends. They went to the teacher, asked him if he knew whose glasses they were. He didn't. They took them to take them to the lost and found but the bell rang so she went to her next class," said Raymond.
A few minutes later, Olivia was brought to the Elgin Police Department where she was fingerprinted and charged.
"It is a crime to me this was allowed to go this far. And as I told my daughter, she did nothing wrong," said Raymond.
The school did not think it should have gone this far either. Olivia is charged with a felony because the price of the Ray Bans is over $150. Because it is a juvenile case, the Kane County state's attorney's office could not comment why they decided to pursue felony charges against a 13-year- old girl.
In the meantime, the family is hoping by the time this reaches a judge, it will be dismissed.
ABC7 was unable to get a comment from the teacher, Linda Szybeko, on either the allegations against Olivia Raymond or the charges against her. There is a Facebook support page where she is quoted as saying she cannot legally comment on issues involving students.
