A 21-year-old man is facing 11 criminal charges after police say he led four kids through a multi-hour burglary spree targeting vape shops across Pittsburgh, using two young lookouts while he and two boys smashed their way into stores. William Yarbrough of the Hill District was arrested after police chased a pickup truck to a dead-end road near Mt. Oliver, and the four kids with him were turned over to their parents rather than charged.
According to WPXI, the spree began around 2:02 a.m. Friday at the Forbes Convenience Store at 5880 Forbes Ave. in Squirrel Hill, where Yarbrough and two boys used bolt cutters to smash a glass window, ransacked the shelves, and made off with a cash register in a burglary that lasted just 57 seconds. An officer reportedly spotted the cash register being tossed out of a pickup truck window, and a license plate reader helped police track the vehicle. Two girls in the group allegedly served as lookouts during the run of break-ins, per WPXI's report.
Investigators say the group then moved to Keystone Vapors at 4526 Liberty Ave. in Bloomfield less than an hour later, before attempting to smash a plexiglass window at a third location. That final attempt fell apart when an alarm began sounding, and the group gave up and fled. Police have said numerous vape shops across that sector of the city — within Pittsburgh Police Zone 4 — had been targeted in the weeks before the spree, though investigators have not said whether Yarbrough was behind those earlier burglaries or whether other groups were responsible.
Chase Ends Near Mt. Oliver, Confession Follows
Police eventually chased the pickup truck to a dead-end road near Mt. Oliver, where Yarbrough was arrested. He was reportedly captured with $363 in his backpack along with stolen items and shattered pieces of glass, and police say he allegedly confessed to the thefts. Pittsburgh police charged him with 11 counts total — two felony counts of burglary and eight misdemeanors, including corruption of minors, criminal mischief, and evading arrest — and he is being held without bail in the Allegheny County Jail, according to TribLIVE.
It is not Yarbrough's first brush with serious charges. In October 2024, when he was 18, Pittsburgh police charged him with felony aggravated assault after he and another teenager allegedly beat, kicked, and stomped a 37-year-old man unconscious in Downtown Pittsburgh, according to WPXI. That victim suffered severe facial injuries after trying to retrieve his younger brother's stolen phone, per the same station's earlier reporting.
Kids Sent Home as Analysts Point to a Detention Bed Shortage
The four kids taken into custody alongside Yarbrough were not immediately charged and were instead turned over to their parents, WPXI reports. Legal analysts cited by the station say adults are increasingly recruiting kids and teens to steal from stores on their behalf, and that lenient sentencing combined with a shortage of juvenile detention beds in Allegheny County has created a loophole in the criminal justice system. Consequences for the juveniles involved in this case remain unclear.
The county's only secure juvenile facility, Highland Detention at Shuman, reopened in July 2024 under private operator Adelphoi after the original Shuman Juvenile Detention Center lost its state license and closed in September 2021. It has operated with just 12 beds in a single pod, according to PublicSource. Court records show that from January 2023 to August 2025, 119 juveniles in the county met the legal criteria for secure detention but were released anyway because no beds were available, per a CBS News Pittsburgh review of the figures.
Ankle Monitors Show Their Own Cracks
When beds aren't available, courts often rely on electronic home monitoring as a substitute, but that tool has its own well-documented flaws. Between late 2023 and late 2025, juveniles on ankle monitors in Allegheny County racked up 297 separate incidents of cutting off their bracelets or letting the batteries die, the CBS News Pittsburgh report found. Hoodline has previously covered how this bed shortage plays out on the ground, in the case of a teen tied to 100 car break-ins who was released home on a monitor.
The pattern of adults teaming up with minors to hit vape and smoke shops isn't new to the region. In July 2025, police charged two juveniles and an adult after an overnight burglary at Vape City Smoke Shop in nearby Brentwood, where the group stole cash and jars of THC-A flower just 90 minutes after the shop closed, according to the same CBS News Pittsburgh outlet.
What the Law Says About Adults Who Recruit Minors
Under Pennsylvania statute 18 Pa.C.S. § 6301, an adult who aids, entices, or encourages a minor to commit a crime faces a first-degree misdemeanor carrying up to five years in prison and a fine as high as $10,000, according to information published by the Pennsylvania General Assembly. Notably, section 6301(b) allows an adult to be convicted regardless of whether the minor involved is ever formally adjudicated delinquent in juvenile court — meaning Yarbrough's corruption of minors charge can proceed independent of any outcome for the four kids sent home with their parents.
Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato's administration announced plans in October 2025 to seek up to $60 million in state funding to expand Highland Detention at Shuman to 60 beds, with construction targeted to resume this year and new beds expected to open in 2027. Under Pennsylvania juvenile court rules, when secure detention is requested for a youth, a hearing must be held within roughly 72 hours to decide whether that juvenile stays in custody or is released under supervision such as electronic monitoring or a curfew, per the Fifth Judicial District of Pennsylvania. For now, county council members have pushed to speed up the Shuman expansion, even as officials weigh redesigning the facility into a broader rehabilitation center rather than simply adding beds.
-4.webp?w=160&h=400&fit=crop&crop=edges)
