Youth in trouble again after getting second chance

A former homeless New Orleans youth profiled in an October Daily News story was charged this week with four felony counts of selling cocaine.

Around 3:45 p.m. Tuesday, Winona police and area officers used a search warrant to enter an apartment near Center and East Second Streets and found Charles Serrano, 17, in a laundry room with cocaine and cash and four people standing near him, according to a police report.

Officers and informants had previously purchased cocaine from Serrano, Deputy Chief Tom Williams said Thursday. Williams said he did not know how many undercover buys the department conducted.

Serrano appeared in court on Wednesday and was then taken to Many Rivers, a juvenile detention facility in Rochester, Minn. A felony controlled-substance sale carries the possibility of up to 20 years in prison. Serrano was also charged with two misdemeanors for possession and sale of marijuana. He will appear in court in March.

Police were required to release Serrano’s name because he is older than 16 and charged with a felony.

Last fall, Melanie Hardt met Serrano in New Orleans while doing volunteer work for the Red Cross following Hurricane Katrina and invited him to stay in her Wabasha, Minn. home.

Hardt took Serrano in and was helping him find work and placement in an area school. But Serrano left Hardt’s house in late fall, choosing to move in with a female he knew in Winona.

Serrano had several run-ins with Winona police over the previous months, Williams said. In January, Winona police bought Serrano a one-way bus ticket back to New Orleans.

Serrano went back to visit his mother, hoping to get a birth certificate to prove his identity; Serrano was having difficulty finding work because he wasn’t able to get a driver’s license, Hardt said. He wasn’t able to get more information and hitchhiked back to Winona, she said.

Hardt said she hasn’t been able to get legal custody of Serrano, though she still hopes to, and plans to stay in contact with him.

She said she was given a chance at Serrano’s appearance to take him back with her, but declined. “As hard as it was, I’m hoping he’ll be able to get the mental and physical help he needs there,” she said. “I did not have any delusions that this was going to be an easy integration for him or for the community.”

Hardt said she did what she could to help Serrano.

“I tried as much as one person can,” she said. “His heart is good, but how would he take proper direction when he doesn’t know what it is and he doesn’t have trust in anyone?”
yep, just alltogether blindsided by this.......

Another dogooder unloads a piece of human shit on her neighbors.
People that do this sort of thing should pay out the ass for the rest of their life.

The 1st article in Oct. even said he had a previous record for drugs.

Quoted: Serrano had several run-ins with Winona police over the previous months, Williams said. In January, Winona police bought Serrano a one-way bus ticket back to New Orleans.

I guess you can't blame them for trying...

could you change the thread title to  "liberal do-gooder refuses to face facts even when repeatedly hit over the head with them" please?

He's off the street and that's all that matters.

As for the woman, how does that expression go....fool me once, I learn, fool me twice, I'm a fool?  She had the opportunity to take him into her custody and she declined.  It appears that she LEARNED.  I can't blame her for anything more than her stupidity for believing in the little shitbag in the first place.