Red Tape: Police couldn’t track man’s ankle monitor as he allegedly robbed dozens of people
Channel 9 uncovered warrants that revealed an 18-year-old is accused of robbing more than two dozen people across Charlotte while wearing an ankle monitor.
Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said they couldn’t use the ankle monitor to find Kaivon Belton’s location that was being monitored by the Department of Juvenile Justice.
PAST COVERAGE: 18-year-old accused of string of violent robberies in Charlotte, warrants say
The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department refused an interview with Channel 9 Tuesday.
However, reporter Dan Matics learned that detectives were trying to work with the juvenile justice system to track his ankle monitor, but the police department said bureaucracy failed.
CMPD said they couldn’t access Belton’s electric monitor due to red tape while the accused criminal was terrorizing Charlotte’s Hispanic community by robbing multiple people at gunpoint.
Jose Vasquez told Channel 9 on Monday that he was shot during an armed robbery attempt outside his house in late September.
“Then he hit me in the face, and I could no longer react,” Vasquez said. “He pushed me to the front of the house and then the other guy shot me twice.”
Detectives said Belton and Cedius Tate, who are now adults, and two others went on a monthlong crime spree preying on more than two dozen victims after they left ATMs and check-cashing stores.
Tate was arrested and bonded out Monday night.
Channel 9 learned from investigators on Tuesday that Belton, who recently turned 18, was on a GPS tracker that was ordered by the juvenile court system, while he committed the crimes.
“It’s a public safety crisis at this point,” said Marcus Philemon, a victim’s advocate with CharMeck Court Watch. “It could have totally been prevented.”
CMPD said it could only place his location from the device at the crimes after he was arrested.
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Investigators had to wait on a search warrant because that information is protected within the juvenile justice system.
Philemon has worked with CMPD as a victim’s advocate and blames North Carolina’s decision in 2019 to send all suspects under the age of 18, no matter how violent the crime, to juvenile court.
“It tied the hands of law enforcement,” Philemon said. “It hid information from the public like juvenile record, juvenile activity.”
VIDEO: 18-year-old accused of string of violent robberies in Charlotte, warrants say
