New twist on shooting marbles leads to arrests at Wal-Mart

When you have lost your marbles and are being chased by the police, don't hit the local Wal-Mart for more ammo.

That's a lesson learned - maybe - by six slingshot-toting Henderson teenagers who police say had too much time on their hands and shot marbles at passing cars in the past two weeks.

According Henderson police, a pair of teenagers believed to be the ringleaders were taken into custody Friday night and booked into the Henderson Detention Center on misdemeanor and gross misdemeanor counts of throwing substances at a motor vehicle.

"We saw a number of incidents over the two weekends and knew that there would be another round of victims if we didn't stop these suspects," Henderson Police Chief Patrick Moers said. "It was the good work of Henderson police officers who caught the suspects to hold them accountable for what they have done."

Arrested were brothers Brandon M. Sepe and Bryce S. Sepe, both 18, police said.

Four 17-year-old boys also were booked into the Clark County juvenile detention center on the same charges. A 16-year-old girl was booked into the juvenile facility on conspiracy to commit petty larceny.

All of the suspects were busted after they were caught trying to steal loads of marbles from the Wal-Mart on Marks Street on Friday night, police said.

A Henderson police officer, guessing where all these marbles had to be coming from, went to the nearest Wal-Mart, where he talked to a security guard.

As it just so happened, the store's security staff said there were a bunch of teenagers in the aisle where marbles can be found. The officer watched as the teens put bags of marbles in their jacket pockets.

The officer then tracked the teenagers to their car and found two high-powered slingshots inside the vehicle - with broken paint balls, which also were being slung at passing cars from the slingshots.

In all, 11 incidents of damage to vehicles by marbles and paint balls were reported on Oct. 26 and 27, mostly in the Boulder Highway and Sunset Road area. The damage to the vehicles ranged from about $150 to more than $1,500.

Contact reporter Tom Ragan at tragan@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5512.