Villa Cresta Carjacking: 4 Teens Charged, 2 As Adults

BALTIMORE COUNTY, MD — Four girls have been arrested in the carjacking of a teacher at Villa Cresta Elementary School last week. Two were charged as adults, while the other two will be tried in the juvenile justice system, police reported Wednesday.

All four admitted to participating in the Villa Cresta carjacking as well as other crimes in Baltimore City, police said.

Those charged as juveniles are 14 and 15 years old, police said. These two were charged with carjacking, robbery and theft of a motor vehicle as adults:

• Celandra Lace Lacruze, 16, of the 4000 block of Starbrook Circle, Randallstown
• Tyana Keyshawn Holmes, 16, of the 2400 block of East Federal Street, Baltimore

Lacruze was charged with three counts of unlawful taking of a motor vehicle on April 20. She and Holmes are being held without bail at the Baltimore County Detention Center.

What sparked the investigation was the assault and carjacking of a pregnant teacher on Friday at Villa Cresta Elementary School on Friday, April 20.

Police said the four teens had been buzzed into the school in the 2600 block of Rader Avenue, where they told office staff they were seeking information about registering a child for school.

After they left, police said the girls approached a teacher in the parking lot and asked her a question to distract her. The girls knocked the cell phone from her hand and started punching her, then snatched her purse and cell phone before driving off with her black Kia Sportage, police allege.

The teacher, who had fallen to the ground while trying to defend herself, was in the early stages of pregnancy. Police said she suffered minor injuries and has been in good condition in the days since the assault.

Two of the girls drove away in the Sportage, while the other two left in a silver Ford Fusion with a Virginia plate, officials said.

Investigators in Baltimore County said they determined that the suspects in the Villa Cresta carjacking were connected to at least two other car thefts at area schools.

"Similar to events at Villa Cresta, the girls used a ruse to enter the school and get past the office, where they located purses, stealing them and the car keys to the vehicles they took," police said.

The teacher at Villa Cresta gave the information about the Fusion with Virginia registration to the officers who responded, and they determined that the car had been stolen earlier that day from Gardenville Elementary School in the 5300 block of Belair Road in Baltimore City.

Two hours after the Villa Cresta attack, Baltimore Police from the eastern district found the Fusion in the parking lot at Hope Academy, a private Christian elementary school in the 1800 block of Edison Highway, officials reported.

Police from Baltimore County and Baltimore City alerted schools about the incidents and encouraged staff and school personnel to be vigilant.

The day after the carjacking at Villa Cresta, police reported that the girls were stopped by staff at Pleasant Plains Elementary School. The teens said they were at school to visit a relative and tried to get in but were denied access and were asked to leave the school property in the 8300 block of Pleasant Plains Road, police reported.

Lacruze and Holmes are slated to appear for a preliminary hearing in Baltimore County District Court on May 4.

RELATED: Pregnant Teacher Carjacked Near Villa Cresta Elementary

Photo courtesy of the Baltimore County Police Department.