{"id":351312,"date":"2026-07-24T17:27:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T17:27:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/351312\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T17:27:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T17:27:12","slug":"dc-area-coach-5-teens-arrested-after-junk-food-heist-at-florida-7-eleven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/351312\/","title":{"rendered":"DC-area coach, 5 teens arrested after junk food heist at Florida 7-Eleven"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (7News) \u2014 A Maryland <\/a>youth basketball coach and five teenage boys from D.C.<\/a> are facing several charges after authorities say they conspired to steal snacks and drinks from a 7-Eleven<\/a> while in Florida<\/a> <\/a>for an AAU tournament. <\/p>\n

It happened around 4:10 a.m. Thursday at the 7-Eleven on Ronald Reagan Parkway in Davenport, according to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.<\/p>\n

The coach, identified as Malik Abdul Harvey, 27, of Bryans Road, Maryland, was arrested for child neglect, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, resisting an officer without violence, and accessory after the fact. <\/p>\n

James Hall, 16, Tyjuan Groover, 17, Tavion Hale, 17, Taureon Ferrell, 16, and Obai Sheriff, 16, are all players in the Run It Up travel basketball program and are coached by Harvey. <\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A Maryland coach and five D.C. teens were arrested after a robbery in Florida. (Polk County Sheriff’s Office)<\/p>\n

Each teen faces charges of conspiracy to commit retail theft, tampering with evidence, petit theft, and violating Polk County’s juvenile curfew ordinance. <\/p>\n

In a post shared on social media<\/a>, Sheriff Grady Judd said on the night of July 23, Harvey arranged for the players to take an Uber to another Airbnb while adults traveled separately. <\/p>\n

According to investigators, the boys arrived before any adults and, around 4 a.m. Friday, walked to a 7-Eleven on Ronald Reagan Boulevard, where they allegedly rushed into the store and stole several things, including Doritos, candy, a Big Mama sausage, lemonade, and Slurpees before dashing out without paying. <\/p>\n

In all, the stolen junk food cost $37.60, authorities said. <\/p>\n

Deputies found three of the teens near the entrance to Solterra Resort, where the team was staying for the Puma NXTPro basketball tournament. <\/p>\n

Investigators said the stolen snacks had been thrown into a backpack and hidden in nearby bushes. Three of the boys were taken into custody, but deputies were still trying to find the other two. <\/p>\n

According to the sheriff, after arresting the boys, they also detained Harvey after learning he was their team’s coach. <\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A Maryland coach and five D.C. teens were arrested after a robbery in Florida. (Polk County Sheriff’s Office)<\/p>\n

Harvey was reportedly shown photos of the five teens but denied knowing the last two, who were still on the run. <\/p>\n

Investigators claimed Harvey tried to hide the names and whereabouts of the last two boys. Authorities ultimately found and arrested the remaining teens. <\/p>\n

Sheriff Judd said Harvey later admitted he lied to protect the boys. <\/p>\n

Authorities also noted that Harvey works for Maryland’s Department of Juvenile Services at the Cheltenham Youth Detention Center. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (7News) \u2014 A Maryland youth basketball coach and five teenage boys from D.C. are facing several charges…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":351313,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-351312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=351312"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351312\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/351313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=351312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=351312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=351312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}