Trouble Came Early For Young Offender

Michael Taylor won’t be 21 until May 21, but the Coeur d’Alene man already has nine criminal bookings and seven criminal warrants since turning 18 two years ago.

Taylor has two trials coming up. One for allegedly being a minor in possession of alcohol and one for a combined charge of burglary and petty theft.

Taylor’s adult criminal record began in 1998 when he was cited for being a minor in possession of alcohol.

He pleaded guilty to his first offense, which occurred in June of 1998. He paid $127 in fines, but he didn’t pay on time. He also collected three warrants for failing to appear in court for a pretrial conference and twice this year on for missing hearings.

For his second offense, he was fined $173 and lost his license for 30 days.

He also racked up two warrants for his arrest for that charge when he failed to appear on two separate occasions.

In 1998, he was also found guilty of reckless driving, was fined $273, which he was delinquent in paying, and spent three days in jail and was forced to work 48 hours in Kootenai County’s work program.

On Feb. 17, 1999, a warrant was issued for his arrest to serve that three days in jail. While the warrant was out he was charged with petty theft, but that charge later was dropped.

Taylor returned to do his jail time on Feb. 26, 1999.

He also was cited failing to purchase a driver’s license in July 1998 and paid $113.

He was issued a $500 warrant for failing to appear for a hearing on a charge of possessing a mutilated driver’s license. The charge later was dismissed.

Taylor currently owes the courts $635, of which $280 was due in September for his reckless driving ticket.

He was arrested May 27 for allegedly being a minor in possession of alcohol and on Nov. 29 was charged with petty theft and burglary.

When the judge decides on Taylor’s latest charges, he may take his juvenile record into account, according to Kootenai County sheriff’s Capt. Ben Wolfinger.

“So far he hasn’t had any felonies on his adult record,” Wolfinger said. “But that will change if he’s convicted of a burglary. He could get prison time for that. All his previous felonies were done before he became an adult. Usually we don’t see this kind of record until they are at least in their late 20s. And it’s too bad that such a young kid is getting into all this trouble. But there is no real age for trouble. It’s not always the old guys.”

See Jail bookings, Page 19.