Naples

Two juveniles are facing felony charges after deputies said a group rode e-motos through a Naples Target, and the damage figure that made it a felony also sets what their parents can be sued for

Money & World

The Editorial Team · August 12, 2026

Stock photo

Stock photo. Not the actual scene. Photo: Archie Binamira / Pexels

What it changes

The part of this that travels, and that has already carried the story onto stations outside the region, is the picture of the thing itself. The part that actually costs somebody money is the number, and it is worth separating the two. Start with why this is a felony rather than a citation. Florida grades criminal mischief on the size of the damage, and the grading is arithmetic rather than judgment. Damage of $200 or less is a second degree misdemeanor. More than $200 but under $1,000 is a first degree misdemeanor. At $1,000 the offense becomes a third degree felony, and there is a second route to the same place that store operators should know about: an interruption or impairment of a business operation that costs $1,000 or more in labor and supplies to restore is a felony on its own terms, whatever the physical damage came to. An estimate of about $2,500 in marked carpet and concrete sits above that line by a factor of two and a half, which is the whole distance between a misdemeanor and a felony charge here. It also explains why a damage estimate in a case like this is not a throwaway detail. The estimate is the charging decision. Now the part almost nobody reads until it lands on them. A criminal charge against a minor is not the mechanism by which a store gets paid, and in Florida the store does not have to wait for the criminal case at all. Section 741.24 of the Florida Statutes gives any person, partnership, corporation or association a direct civil action against the parents of a minor under 18 living with them who maliciously or willfully destroys or steals property. The action runs against the parents, not the child. What surprises people is the ceiling, because there is not one. The statute limits recovery to the actual damages plus taxable court costs, and that is the only limit in it. A figure of $2,500 appears in a good deal of older secondary writing about this statute, and it is not in the current text. Whatever the actual damages are proven to be is what parents are exposed to, whether that is a few hundred dollars of carpet cleaning or a five figure repair to a floor. Three practical consequences follow, and they apply well beyond this one store. First, for parents: your homeowners policy is where this question usually gets answered, and it is worth knowing the answer before you need it rather than after. Most homeowners and renters policies carry personal liability coverage that extends to resident minors, but nearly all of them exclude damage that is expected or intended by the insured, and an insurer presented with a willful destruction claim will read that exclusion carefully. The statute is written around the words maliciously or willfully, which is precisely the language that triggers the exclusion. It is a real possibility to be liable under the statute and uncovered under the policy at the same time. Read the intentional acts exclusion in your own policy, and if you have a teenager with a motorized anything, ask your agent in writing how it applies. Second, for the small business owner or the association board reading this: the civil route exists and it does not depend on anybody being convicted, or even charged. You need proof of the damage and proof of the amount, which in practice means photographs taken before the cleanup, a written repair estimate or the paid invoice, and the incident report number. The single most common reason a claim like this fails is not the law but the record, because the floor was cleaned and the receipts were never kept. Keep them. Third, on the e-moto itself, since that is the object at the centre of this. These machines occupy an awkward space in Florida law and a lot of buyers do not realise it at the point of purchase. A device that exceeds the statutory limits for a bicycle or an electric bicycle is not a bicycle in the eyes of the law, and depending on its power and speed it can be a motor vehicle requiring registration, insurance and a licensed operator, none of which a twelve year old can hold. That matters for money as well as for enforcement: a machine that is legally a motor vehicle and is uninsured leaves the family carrying whatever it causes, and the exclusions in a homeowners policy for motorised vehicles are usually broader than people expect. Before buying one, get the top speed and the motor wattage in writing and check them against what the device is permitted to be. It is a far cheaper conversation to have in a showroom than in a deposition.

Two juveniles were arrested last week on felony criminal mischief charges over an episode at a Naples Target in July, the Collier County Sheriff's Office said, in a case that has since been picked up by stations well outside Southwest Florida.

WINK News reported the arrests, and CBS12, in a report by Eric Weiss, and WFLA in Tampa carried their own accounts. According to those reports, a group of juveniles arrived on e-motos at the Target on Tarpon Bay Boulevard on July 9. Deputies said the group rode mobility scooters meant for shoppers around the store, struck fixtures, played explicit music and made profane comments, and that some of them returned after being removed and rode e-motos through the store and in and out of the entrance. Deputies said the episode left black tire marks on carpet and marks on concrete, with burnouts filling part of the store with smoke as customers came in, and put the damage at about $2,500.

Two juveniles, aged 16 and 12, were arrested on Monday and charged with felony criminal mischief with property damage. This publication is not naming them. Both are minors, no comment was sought from their families for this item, and nothing here should be read as a finding that either of them did what deputies have described. A charge is an allegation.

"These boys destroyed property, disrupted business and put shoppers at risk," Sheriff Kevin Rambosk said in remarks reported by CBS12, adding that such behaviour would not be tolerated in the community. "They now will be held accountable and face the consequences of their actions."

The Sheriff's Office's own written release could not be read for this item, and no claim is made here about what it says. Juvenile arrests do not appear in the office's public arrest search.

What can be stated from primary text is the law that the damage figure runs into, and it runs into it twice.

Florida grades criminal mischief by the size of the damage. Under section 806.13 of the Florida Statutes, damage of $200 or less is a second degree misdemeanor and damage above $200 but below $1,000 is a first degree misdemeanor. At $1,000 or greater it becomes a third degree felony. The statute reaches the same grade by a second route, treating an interruption or impairment of a business operation that costs $1,000 or more in labor and supplies to restore as a third degree felony in its own right. An estimate of about $2,500 sits above that line either way.

The second statute is the one that decides who pays, and it is not the same question as who is charged. Section 741.24 gives any person, partnership, corporation or association the right to recover damages from the parents of a minor under 18 living with them who maliciously or willfully destroys or steals property. The action lies against the parents. Its only stated limit is that recovery "shall be limited to the actual damages in addition to taxable court costs." There is no dollar ceiling in the current text, although a cap of $2,500 appears in a good deal of older secondary writing about the section.

Where we read it: WINK News.

The document: Florida Statutes section 806.13, criminal mischief, penalties, penalty for minor, 2025 edition.

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