Syracuse High School football players charged in crime spree

FARMINGTON — A group of high school football players facing dozens of charges in connection with a crime spree that stretched from Syracuse to Layton made their first court appearance Thursday.

Five boys, ages 16 and 17, were ordered to home confinement while the cases work their way through 2nd District Juvenile Court, prosecutors said Thursday. Collectively, the teens face 54 charges in Davis County ranging from shoplifting and theft to business and vehicle burglaries. One boy faces 22 charges alone.

In Weber County, some of the teens face burglary, theft, reckless driving and even littering charges — stemming from their arrest after a chase that ended when police said their getaway car crashed into an Ogden home.

"They were pretty well organized," deputy Davis County Attorney Rick Westmoreland told the Deseret News after the teens' court appearance on Thursday.

In the business burglaries, prosecutors said money, electronics and other items were taken. Some items were kept and others tossed, Westmoreland said. Businesses ranged from an Ogden golf course to an auto shop in Syracuse and a nutrition store in Clinton.

"A couple of times they went into the GNC and took supplements, protein things to help you get bigger when you're lifting weights," he said. "They would get it and sell it."

The teens are varsity football players at Syracuse High School. None of them have any prior criminal records, leaving prosecutors perplexed as to why an otherwise upstanding group of teens would be involved in any criminal activity. Westmoreland said the teens have told investigators they would get a "rush" from the crimes.

"Committing thefts and burglaries is just as addicting as drugs," he said. "You get that rush from it and have success, why stop?"

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E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com

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