Published: February 25, 2008 11:14 pm      

NORTH TONAWANDA: Mother, teens charged in fight

A North Tonawanda mother decided to take the law into her own hands Sunday, and it landed her and four teenage girls in jail overnight, each charged with felony burglary.

Police were called to 457 Morgan St. in the City of Tonawanda for a large fight. According to reports, two 13- and 14-year-old girls allegedly beat up Christine A. Willett’s 13-year-old daughter along the riverwalk behind Mighty Taco. Rather than calling police to investigate the incident, Willett decided to take matters into her own hands.

“Mom rounds up a posse of four girls and heads over to Morgan Street to settle the score,” Lt. Fredric Foels said.

A 14-year-old female victim was checked out at DeGraff Memorial Hospital for head and finger injuries because of the altercation, police said.

Police charged Willett, 36, of 138 Main St. lower, North Tonawanda, with felony burglary, third-degree assault and four counts of endangering the welfare of a child. In addition, four girls were charged with felony burglary and misdemeanor assault. They are Sarah L. Mountain, 16, 306 Schenck St. upper, North Tonawanda; Kayla M. Snyder, 17, 207 McKinley Ave., Kenmore; Crystal R. Jarmuz, 16, 88 Mayer Ave., Buffalo; and Kayla K. Moore, 16, 547 Woodstock Ave., Town of Tonawanda.

All five spent the night in holding cells. City Court Judge Joseph J. Cassata put $1,000 bail on Willett and $500 each on the four girls. They are scheduled to return to City Court Thursday for a felony hearing.

At about 4:30 p.m. Sunday, the residents of 457 Morgan St. heard some commotion outside and saw Willett exiting her car along with her 13-year-old daughter and several other girls, at which point the occupants ran back into the house and locked the doors, according to reports.

A witness, 15, stayed outside and attempted to block the group from coming into the house. However, Jarmuz and Snyder allegedly pushed him out of the way and then barged in through the front door. Snyder, Jarmuz and Mountain allegedly went into the kitchen and began punching and kicking two girls, ages 12 and 14, according to reports.

Witnesses broke up the fight and got the offenders out of the house and locked the door, but the gang of girls allegedly pushed the door open again with so much force that they broke the lock off the door frame, forcing their way back into the house a second time.

This time, Willett also entered the house with her daughter and all the girls scrapped in the kitchen, where the 14-year-old victim and the 40-year-old female occupant of the house were beaten up. At one point, one of the girls threw a glass salt shaker at one of the victims, and Mountain allegedly grabbed the 40-year-old by the throat and pinned her up against the wall.

As patrol arrived, a carload of several boys and Mountain was pulling away from the house. Police stopped that vehicle and, a short time later, a group driven by Willett pulled up.

Willett told police that she didn’t want the fight to break out, even though she was the one who drove the girls to the Morgan Street residence.