Teens Steal Grandma's $26,500 In Savings, Go To Disney World

BOSTON - After spending most of her life working two jobs to save $26,500, Beatrice Jones had it all planned: "I wanted to go on a nice trip around the world."

However, Jones' two teenage granddaughters got to the money first, authorities said. The girls allegedly stole the cash from a bedroom safe and took a lavish trip of their own - to Disney World.

Along with a 13-year-old friend, they blew all but $8,116 in Orlando on an expensive hotel, restaurants and a three-day shopping spree, authorities said.

"I'm very much upset with them. I do everything in the world for those kids, and to think they would do this to me, I can't believe it," Jones, 63, said yesterday.

One sister, 15, and the friend are charged with grand larceny. The other sister, 14, is charged with grand theft.

The sisters' father, Deron Jones, said he wants the courts - not the family - to deal with them. "If they got away with taking $26,500 when they were 14 and 15 years old, they may grow up to be bank robbers," he said.

The girls remained in a juvenile-detention center in Orlando yesterday as authorities discussed how to bring them back to Massachusetts. They were not identified because of their age.

Deron Jones, who lives with the girls and his mother in Boston, is reluctant to use any of the remaining money to fly to Florida and get his daughters.

"If you had your life savings and it was blown in a three-day trip to Disney World, would you want to spend the rest of your life savings bringing the people back that blew it?" he asked.

The girls' odyssey started last Saturday. According to police, the sisters said they ran away after their father hit the elder one with a belt. They broke into the safe and stole the money, which was in stacks of $50 and $100 bills, police said.

After getting their friend, the girls went to the airport and bought airline tickets to Orlando. Once there, they checked into a hotel near Disney World and paid cash in advance for a two-week stay.

The girls were discovered Monday night when one of them got scared, called a friend and told her where they were. The friend in turn called their father, who contacted Florida authorities. Sheriff's deputies went to the hotel room and found the girls, a variety of merchandise and $8,116, police said.

Beatrice Jones said she retired recently after working for more than 40 years in a variety of jobs, most recently arranging flowers and working as an aide at a day-care center. Her granddaughters moved in three years ago after they began fighting with their mother.

Beatrice Jones said she has not spoken with the girls since her son told her what they did. "I really don't want to talk with them," she said.

Beatrice Jones does want to talk to the airline and hotel involved.

"I can't understand the airline taking that kind of money from children 14 and 15 years old. And the hotels, I have to have a charge card when I go into a hotel. How come they don't?" she said.