New Castle youth charged as adult for robbery, assault

February 15, 2012 at 10:41a.m.

NEW CASTLE, Pa. (AP) — A teen in a western Pennsylvania juvenile detention center has been charged as an adult with robbing and attacking a staffer who was transporting the teen in his car last month.

Police say 17-year-old Erick Robert Lee reached from the back seat and told the staffer, “Don’t take this personal. It’s business.” before he began choking the man.

The New Castle News reports today that Lee demanded the car keys and punched the staffer before driving off in the parking lot of the New Castle Youth Development Center. Police say the teen lost control of the car and crashed into some shrubs, ending the brief incident Jan. 19.

Lee is now in Lawrence County Jail on charges including robbery and aggravate assault.