Shorewood Police arrest teen suspected of stealing chicken nuggets

Beverly Taylor FOX 6 Reporter

8:43 AM CDT, July 20, 2010
WITI-TV, SHOREWOOD - Sharing or trading food during school lunchtime is not unheard of, but sharing landed one teenager in police handcuffs.

Ava Hernandez got a disturbing voicemail message from the Assistant Principal of Shorewood High School in March. Her 15-year-old brother Adam has been taken into police custody. She says, "It was because his friend had shared a lunch with him and he was accused of stealing was really, I don't know, it was just over the top."

Adam was accused of stealing chicken nuggets from a $2.60 meal. Those are the nuggets his friend, Gakaree Garner, gave to him. Garner says, "Although that month I was fasting so I couldn't eat meat, and we had chicken nuggets that day."

Garner gave the nuggets to Adam, who got in the lunch line to get some sauce for them. According to Garner and the police report the cafeteria cashier told the Assistant Principal Adam stole the chicken nuggets. The Assistant Principal then told the police officer in the school, who called a squad car. Garner says, "They actually put him in handcuffs, and actually tried to force him into the car."

Ava Hernandez says, "They were like, 'Well do you know that friend receives federally free lunch?', and I said, 'I do now.', and they said, 'Well, it's illegal to share a free lunch so either way Adam was breaking the law'."

Adam was issued a municipal citation for theft and a $170.00 fine, which he chose to fight in court to keep his record clean. A youth group Urban Underground trumpets Adam's cause, fighting against young people needlessly being put in the judicial system.

After garnering media attention the Shorewood Police Chief and High School Principal decided to withdraw the theft charges against Adam Hernandez, thus canceling scheduled court proceedings.