Two teenagers from San Luis Obispo County were apprehended in Scottsdale, Arizona, accused of home invasion in a plot to steal millions in cryptocurrency.
According to investigators, these teenagers were recruited for the shocking crime online.
One of the teenagers resides in SLO and attended San Luis Obispo High School, while the other lives in Morro Bay.
Following their arrest, the teenagers informed Arizona authorities that they had only recently met.
Ari Parker lives in Scottsdale, Arizona.
At first, he didn’t notice the blue car in the background of his ring camera footage from Saturday.
“I had no idea they were connected to the crime that happened here,” adds the Arizona resident.
Just down the street, SLO County teenagers Jackson Sullivan and Skylar Lapeille allegedly forced their way into a home while dressed as delivery drivers.
Investigators claim they forcibly held two people and demanded 66 million dollars in cryptocurrency.
A third resident was able to call the police.
“The police work was really impressive,” Parker says. “They were pounding the pavement doing old-school gumshoe police detective work, knocking on doors, letting neighbors know what was happening.”
The teenagers fled and were apprehended after a pursuit that led nowhere.
When arrested, the teenagers told officials that they had only recently met.
“Many of them [neighbors] have lived here for 15, 20 years, and they mentioned that this is the first time they could remember something like this happening,” according to Parker.
Unidentified persons known as “Red” and “8” allegedly sent Sullivan and Lapeille messages on the “Signal” app, instructing them to travel to Arizona with money to buy supplies so they could appear as delivery drivers.
“It’s certainly eye opening, and it’s also incredible the way that different pieces of evidence will be pieced together,” Parker tells me.
San Luis Obispo High School officials confirmed that Jackson Sullivan was a student.
The teenagers are being held in Arizona and will face adult felony charges such as kidnapping, burglary, criminal impersonation, and felony flight.
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