Police: HS Cheerleader Robs Wheelchair-Confined Child

((HT: AJC/Leslie-Matteucci))

Police have not decided if they will charge three teenage girls who were with a Cobb County cheerleader when she allegedly robbed some children.

Chelsea Steele, 17, ((pictured, thanks AJC/Cobb County Police Department)) has been at the Cobb County jail since Saturday when she was arrested on charges of robbery and underage possession of alcohol. A judge granted Steele a $5,000 bond, but she remained in jail Wednesday night, the sheriff’s department said.

Police say Steele stole $147 from some children — including one confined to a wheelchair — at a community pool in Marietta on Friday and then drove off.

This week, investigators identified three other teenage girls who were in the car with Steele. They interviewed the teens, but have not decided whether to file charges, police spokesman Officer Joe Hernandez said Wednesday night.

Joe Green, father of some of the victims, said all of the girls involved should be charged.

“All four should be responsible for this. They fled the scene and I chased them on foot. They need to be disciplined,” Green said Wednesday night.

Steele’s attorney Mike Moran and her parents did not return phone calls Wednesday.

Green said his two daughters, ages 9 and 11, organized the sale of Fourth of July gear to earn summer money and help his company, JAG Designs, which has struggled in recent months.

Steele, a cheerleader at Sprayberry High School, approached the children outside the pool on Sandy Plains Road and acted as if she was interested in making a purchase, Green said.

“She [Steele] spoke to me and said ‘how sweet’ when I explained to her what the kids were doing,” Green said. “I walk away from the table and then she grabbed the money.”

Green said he realized what happened when he heard the children shouting the money had been taken.

Police say Steele and the other girls fled the St. Charles Square subdivision in a white Ford Taurus.

Some of the children later identified Steele as the suspect.

Green said Steele’s mother has since e-mailed him and offered to repay the money if he dropped the charges. He said he hasn’t responded and the teen’s fate hangs in the district attorney’s hands, not his.

“It’s not that she just stole from children. But to have the confidence to do that in front of the parents is pretty shocking,” he said.

Green said he feels the teenagers planned the robbery. His children had distributed fliers advertising the sale the night before.

“I just want these teenagers to realize they have done the a bad thing and learn from it,” he said.