MARTIN COUNTY – Four teenagers were arrested July 2 after they allegedly robbed a 14-year-old boy in Palm City and then led Martin County Sheriff’s Office deputies on a chase that ended in the High Point neighborhood, according to sheriff’s office reports.

The suspects — three 17-year-olds and an 18-year-old named Kaleb Matthew Seidel — all wore black masks as they lured the 14-year-old into the car and held a gun to the boy’s head, Maj. Ruben Romero confirmed in a press conference on July 2. They stole his money and designer watch before pushing him out of the car and speeding away, Romero said.

The incident happened when, on the night of July 1, the 14-year-old was sending Snapchats back and forth with friends from another friend’s house in the Lighthouse Point neighborhood, Romero said.

One of the communications the teenager got at about 1 a.m., July 2 was about the resale of expensive designer clothes. The teen’s friend drove the boy to Dyer Point Road and Beach Way Avenue in Palm City to complete the transaction, Romero said. Seidel, the driver, and a passenger in a white car met him there. The teen knew them, and the two, who were covered up wearing black, told him to get in the vehicle, Romero said.

When the teenager got into the back seat, another teen pointed a gun in his face, started going through his pockets and took about $150 in cash and a watch, which was a fake Rolex, Romero said.

The 14-year-old then was kicked out of the car and the teenagers then sped away from the scene.

“Imagine, being 14 years old and having a gun pointed in (your) face,” Romero said.

When the 14-year-old called 911, deputies located the vehicle, described as a white Kia, but the driver refused to stop, according to a Martin County Sheriff’s Office Facebook posting. Deputies established area chokepoints while the aviation unit maintained visual contact with the suspects. At one point, the car left Martin County before looping back toward Pratt Whitney Road in an attempt to re-enter the county.

Deputies then deployed stop sticks, shredding the vehicle’s tires. The four suspects bailed out and ran through High Point neighborhoods and into a wooded area in another attempt to escape. The perimeter tightened, and soon, all four suspects were face down on the ground and in custody, according to the Facebook posting.

At one point during the chase, one of the suspects threw a firearm out of the car, Romero said. The gun, later recovered and identified as a .22-caliber rifle, looked like an assault-style rifle at the time, he said.

Each were charged with armed robbery, resisting arrest without violence and petty theft, Romero said. Seidel also was charged with fleeing and eluding deputies.

All four teens – with Martin County addresses – were processed at the St. Lucie County Jail with the three 17-year-olds then taken to the St. Lucie Regional Juvenile Detention Center on Bell Avenue in Fort Pierce where they would be for at least 21 days, Romero said.

Seidel is in the Martin County Jail remain in the jail without bail, according to jail records.