Zachary Watts at his detention hearing.
A Texas teen released after allegedly robbing an Egg Harbor Township home was arrested two days later for attempted robbery.
In that case, Watts allegedly admitted to police that he broke a basement window and went into the home’s bedrooms, stealing prescription drugs and about $8.57 worth of coins from Nicaragua and Costa Rica.
Two days after his release, Watts allegedly broke the window of another home in the township and removed a screen. He did not go inside, according to the charge.
Watts was drunk and high, and did not really recall the attempt, defense attorney John Bjorklund said.
The teen was in the area after being sent to Surfside Recovery Services in Ventnor, where he was sent after 114 days in a transitional living rehabilitation program in Tennessee, Bjorklund said.
Now, Watts’ parents want to send him to a program closer to their Colleyville, Texas, home.
Judge Pam D’Arcy is giving them that chance during a detention hearing Tuesday.
She ordered Watts released from jail, but only if his parents come to pick him up. Then, he must enter a rehab as part of his conditions of release.
Watts was still in the Atlantic County Justice Facility on Wednesday.