Teens charged with beating, robbing immigrant day laborers

<p>Promising a job, five suburban high school students twice lured immigrant day laborers to a rural area where the teens beat them with pipes, sticks and fists, police said.</p><p>The teens stole a total of $570 from the two Hispanic men and then spent it at restaurants and stores in the Canton area, said Jeff Lance, the citys assistant police chief.</p><p>It was just taking advantage of the weak _ the big kid on the block syndrome, Lance said Thursday. It appears it was for run-around money.</p><p>The students _ four 18-year-olds and one 16-year-old _ were being held Thursday in the Cherokee County jail 35 miles north of Atlanta on charges including armed robbery, aggravated assault and false imprisonment.</p><p>Prosecutors did not say whether the students have obtained lawyers yet.</p><p>The teens picked up the first man, a 22-year-old, from a parking lot outside a convenience store on the morning of Feb. 2 before school, Lance said. They had offered to pay the man for a days work, but instead took him to an abandoned house where he was beaten and robbed of $300, Lance said.</p><p>The next day, Lance said, the boys pulled up in their white sport utility vehicle alongside a 54-year-old man outside a shopping center and drove him to a wooded area. That man lost $270 and was picked up by a sheriffs deputy as he stumbled down the road, his groceries still in hand.</p><p>Both men suffered severe bruises and slight fractures, Lance said. They were treated at a local hospital and released the same day.</p><p>Both of these guys barely spoke English, he said. If theres money to be made, if theres a job to be done, they dont hesitate to get in anybodys vehicle.</p><p>Cherokee County High School hasnt taken action against the students because the alleged crimes didnt occur on school grounds or during school hours, said spokesman Mike McGowan.</p><p>The suspects were identified as 18-year-olds Chad Whepherington, Ben Cagle, Devin Wheeling and Kenneth Beavers. Police did not name the 16-year-old because hes a juvenile.</p><p>There are always vicious animals out there like these kids, said Sara Gonzalez, president of the Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. They should get a life and get a job.</p><p>Police and businesses should join forces to create better and safer jobs for Hispanic workers, many of whom are immigrants struggling just to get by, she said.</p><p>Its very dangerous, but hey, what are they going to do? They need to eat, they need to pay the rent, they need to support their families, Gonzalez said.</p>

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