(Memphis) A grandmother is accused of helping her grandson and his friend steal scrap metal. Police say Bettie Boyce loaded up her car as a 13-year-old and 14-year-old stole scraps from an abandoned house in North Memphis.
But some say the grandmother had no idea what was going on.
Neighbors say they saw the two teenagers beating up a television on Rockwood, probably trying to get to the scrap metal inside.
“Yeah, they were just beating the crap out of that TV set,” said Carolyn Beck.
Beck says she also saw the teens trying to make a getaway when police showed-up
“I just saw them running, running away,” said Beck.
The person behind the wheel of the alleged getaway car was 54-year-old Bettie Boyce.
“I thought it might be one of their relatives. I didn’t know,” said Beck.
Boyce is now charged with contributing to the delinquency of minors.
“No, mama wouldn’t do nothing like that,” said Daphney Hunter.
The woman’s daughter says police have the story all wrong.
Hunter says her mother, Boyce, had no idea what she got herself into.
“He said ‘Grandma, my friend wants to know if you could take him down the street to pick up this junk to go to the junk yard.’” said Hunter. “She was like, ‘Tyrone, where is this junk at?’ And he said ‘Grandma, it`s on the side of the street.’”
Hunter says before her mother knew it, she was surrounded by police. Boyce is now in jail.
“She has never been in a situation like this or did time for a crime,” said Hunter. “They should be lenient on her because, mama, she didn’t know any better.”
She says her 13-year-old son is already out of police custody and back home, but getting an earful about the consequences of stealing and what he did to his grandma.
“I just pray and hope that what I try to teach him, he listens to me and becomes a better child or he is going to be locked-up,” Hunter said.