The teen accused of killing a Ventnor grandfather in 2018, should be tried as an adult, an appellate panel has ruled.
The decision overturns a Family Division judge’s ruling, and gives insight into a case kept under the veil of the juvenile system for 19 months.
The teen had just been paroled from an 18-month sentence at the Training School for Boys when he fled a required program in Vineland, and ended up in Ventnor with a gun and “an elaborate and sophisticated scheme to steal a car,” according to the appellate judges’ summary of the state’s case.
Video surveillance captured the teen lying in wait under the stairs to Edla’s North Nashville Avenue home, according to the evidence.
He is then seen confronting Edla, and later takes off in the SUV, striking a parked car as he flees, the state alleges.
The next morning, the vehicle was found parked in Atlantic City, where Surveillance Center officers tracked the suspect to a home a block away.
The teen, who BreakingAC has confirmed is Angelo Delgado, was found with Edla’s wallet, cell phone and car keys, according to the evidence.
Police also found a .22 caliber handgun in the home where he was staying.
Since then, two birthdays have passed for Delgado, now 18.
His troubles, it seems have continued.
In January 2019, he was transferred from the Harborfields Juvenile Detention Center in Egg Harbor City to the Training School for Boys, after being “disciplined on multiple occasions,” according to appellate ruling.
That March, the state moved to have Delgado waived up to the Law Division.
Family Division Judge Susan Maven denied the motion in November, saying the state provided no context to the teen’s history, and did not consider that his previous crimes consisted of “lower offenses (that) do not rise to the level of the seriousness of (this) offense.”
But the appellate judges disagreed, finding the state did much more than simply recite Delgado’s history, and that his prior offenses included “several serious crimes.”
A dozen prior guilty pleas in the juvenile system include simple assault, burglaries, robbery and weapons offenses.
The state’s case paints a picture of a childhood steeped in crime, and marked by an absent mother and various foster homes and juvenile treatment centers.
The Division of Child Protection and Permanency first got involved in 2011, after a referral reported “drug usage, uncleanliness of the home, homelessness and no food for the children.”
“This juvenile has had the benefit of many programs to address his criminal behavior but his escalating criminal activity is undeterred,” Chief Assistant Prosecutor Janet Gravitz said in her argument for waiver.
With the appellate court’s ruling, the case could now be presented to a grand jury for indictment.
Delgado’s attorney declined to comment on whether an appeal will be made.
