They are bank robbers who didn't want the cash, police say. The scared 14- and 15-year-olds were not looking for a thrill, either, when they walked into banks in suburban Maryland and handed tellers notes demanding money.
They had been snatched by gunmen, taken to the banks and forced by their captors to commit the crimes, according to Prince George's County police.
After the teenagers came out of the banks with the money, the gunmen made off with the take and left the stunned boys behind.
At least four recent bank robberies were committed by three teenagers who later told police they had robbed the banks against their will. Their stories are "very credible," said an investigator who did not want to be identified because the case is still open.
The most recent was on Wednesday, when a 14-year-old Landover boy was abducted and then forced to hold up a branch of Chevy Chase Bank in Bethesda, said FBI spokeswoman Michelle Crnkovich.
Police found him walking along Rockville Pike, stained by ink from an exploding dye pack, a device that banks attach to bundles of money to stain bank robbers, making them easy to spot.
'These kids were frightened'
The other three incidents occurred in Prince George's, two of them on Jan. 20 and one on Monday.
"These kids were frightened," Crnkovich said. "There are absolute parallels in these cases."
None of the teenagers was physically hurt, police said.
The FBI is working with Prince George's and Montgomery County police on the cases. The agencies have "promising leads," Crnkovich said.
Prince George's police consider the boys to be victims, and they were not arrested, said Cpl. Debbi Carlson, a police spokeswoman. The 14-year-old in the Bethesda bank case was taken into custody by Montgomery police but was not charged with a crime. Instead, he was released to his parents.
"I've been a cop for 17 years, and this is the first time I've heard of a kid that young robbing banks," said Lt. Eric Burnett, spokesman for Montgomery police.
Police did not identify any of the teenagers and would not say who wrote the notes used in the robberies. They did not disclose what the notes said.
Prince George's police Lt. Sean Carney, commander of the department's robbery section, cautioned parents yesterday to always know where their children are. He also said children should walk or travel with friends or relatives.
"People need to take steps to protect themselves," Carney said. "Be aware of your surroundings. Be aware of your children's travel routes. Tell neighbors to keep their eyes out."
The first Prince George's kidnapping and robbery began at 4 p.m. Jan. 20 in the 7400 block of Barlowe Road, two blocks from police headquarters in the Palmer Park neighborhood.
Two men approached a 15-year-old, saying they had a weapon and would hurt him if he did not follow their orders. They took him several blocks to a Wachovia Bank in the 7700 block of Landover Road and forced him to pass a note to the teller demanding money, police said.
Then they went to a SunTrust Bank in the 8200 block of Ardwick-Ardmore Road, next to an entrance ramp for Route 50, and forced him to rob the bank, police said.
The men fled, and the teenager ran to a nearby business and called police.
The second abduction occurred at 6 p.m. Monday, when a man with a gun approached a teenager on a Metrobus. Police would not say where the bus was heading or where it was when the incident occurred.
The gunman said he'd hurt the boy if he didn't follow the man's orders, according to police.
He took the boy to a SunTrust bank in the 7700 block of Riverdale Road and told him to pass a note to the teller demanding money, which the boy did. After the teenager handed over the money, the man ran off with it.
Bank employees called police and gave a description of the teenager who had robbed the bank. Patrol officers quickly spotted the boy and stopped him. He explained what had happened, police said.
In the Montgomery case, the teenager robbed a Chevy Chase Bank at 7501 Wisconsin Ave. in Bethesda about 4:20 p.m. He was taken into custody shortly after 5 p.m. when patrol officers who had heard the suspect's description spotted him on Rockville Pike.
Burnett said detectives don't believe he participated in the robberies in Prince George's.
The boy, who was not identified, was released to his parents last night after being questioned by detectives at police headquarters in Rockville.
Police have descriptions of two men possibly involved in the Prince George's cases but do not have surveillance images of them from the recent robberies because they did not enter the banks with the teenagers, Crnkovich said.
But one or both may have been involved in a late December robbery of a Wachovia bank, and there may be surveillance images from that heist, she said.
Employees at the Wachovia, SunTrust and Chevy Chase banks that were robbed declined to comment yesterday. Corporate spokespeople for the banks said only that they were cooperating with law enforcement officials.
One of the men, who might have been involved in both Prince George's cases, is described as 6 feet tall, about 20 years old and of dark complexion. He had a moustache and a light growth of hair on his chin and was wearing a gray sweat jacket, bluejeans and black Jordan tennis shoes.
Another man, who might have been involved in the Jan. 20 incident, is described as 16 years old and about 5 feet 8 inches tall with cornrows. He was wearing a No. 3 Allen Iverson Philadelphia 76ers jersey, police said.
Carney appealed to the public for information, saying police want to quickly catch the people responsible for the robberies. "No matter how insignificant it may seem, we need to know everything the public knows about this."
Anyone who has information about these cases is asked to call 866-411-TIPS.
Staff writer Ernesto Londoño contributed to this report.