Update: Elgin police say that a 13-year-old was formally charged on the day of her arrest, and that no further charges have been pressed.
The 13-year-old honor student accused of stealing a teacher's prescription sunglasses has been formally charged with felony theft, according to the girl's mother.
"I can't believe it," Rochell Raymond said in a phone conversation. "There were two other children in the room that both told police she went up to another teacher to ask whether the sunglasses were his. There was no intent to steal."
The Elgin police department did not immediately return a request for comment.
Raymond's daughter, 13-year-old Olivia, last week found a teacher's pair of expensive sunglasses lying around unprotected. Not wanting to be late for her next class by taking the time to stop at lost-and-found immediately, Olivia said she put them in her purse with the intention of turning them in later.
But before she could do so, she was confronted in class by the teacher who "yelled at her [and] embarrassed her in front of the class," Rochell Raymond recounted.
Police told Rochell Raymond that because her daughter left the classroom with the glasses, Olivia qualifies for theft charges.
