'They were mean to me': 7-year-old Saskatoon girl describes lemonade stand robbery
2 teens, 16 and 14, facing a variety of charges
Jade Floata says she knew something bad was happening at her daughter Madison Vanden Dungen's lemonade stand when the teenager started helping himself to drinks.
"Maddy likes to serve the lemonade," Floata said in an interview.
"She's a very professional little business woman."
Maddy, 7, had her own take on what was happening.
"I was thinking they aren't good. They were mean to me."
Police say two teenage boys are facing a variety of charges after Monday's robbery of the lemonade stand on Davidson Crescent in Saskatoon. Officers made the arrests several blocks away, near Confederation Mall.
Police say a 14-year-old was carrying a concealed knife and breached a court order, and a 16-year-old was arrested on outstanding warrants.
Floata said Madison, or Maddy, set up the lemon-yellow stand earlier in the summer.
She shares the space with a neighbour friend, seven-year-old Vada Harvey, who has a stand of her own and also had a run-in with teens the same day. They came to her stand and tried to barter for lemonade.
"They offered me a shoelace, or a lighter," Harvey said.
Floata said that she was on the phone with her husband when the drama unfolded on the lawn.
"She's out every day. The neighbourhood knows her. She has her regulars. I was in the living room and I seen that there was a teenage boy there and I knew something wasn't right because he was helping himself," she said.
"He was taking the lemonade, cup after cup, and then crushing them and throwing the cups, like at her, on the lawn."
Floata said there were another five boys across the street, "drinking and doing things that weren't good." Floata began filming the group and then called the police.
She said the boys ended up taking lemonade, Maddy's candy and some money.
"Maddy was pretty shaken up. She was actually vomiting and had a tummy ache," she said.
She said police came back later to tell Maddy about the arrests.
"They spoke with her themselves and said don't worry, like, we got the bad guys. And she actually calmed down quite a bit after that. So that was nice," Floata said.
The Saskatoon Berries, a local baseball team that competes in the Western Canadian Baseball League, is offering Maddy some support.
The team invited Maddy and her sister to bring their lemonade stand to its home game on Thursday at Cairns Field.
"Let's show her how sweet we all know Saskatoon can be!" the team wrote on social media.
She said police came back later to tell Maddy about the arrests.
"They spoke with her themselves and said don't worry, like, we got the bad guys. And she actually calmed down quite a bit after that. So that was nice," Floata said.
The Saskatoon Berries, a local baseball team that competes in the Western Canadian Baseball League, is offering Maddy some support.
The team invited Maddy and her sister to bring their lemonade stand to its home game on Thursday at Cairns Field.
"Let's show her how sweet we all know Saskatoon can be!" the team wrote on social media.
