Girl, 12, helps catch man who robbed her lemonade stand

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — Call it a lemonade standoff.

A girl whose lemonade stand was robbed of $17.50 chased the suspect into a nearby home and called police, who spent nearly an hour trying to coax the man into surrendering.

"The guy came up and was, like, 'Give me your money,' " said 12-year-old Dominique Morefield, who was running the lemonade stand with a group of friends. "I was shocked. It was just my immediate reaction to chase after him."

Dominique dashed after the man who ran into a house, and then she called police. Officers eventually persuaded Steve Tryon, 18, to come outside after 45 minutes and arrested him on a preliminary felony charge of robbery.

Tryon made an initial appearance in Superior Court on Tuesday and was ordered to be held in the Vigo County Jail on $50,000 bond. He will be formally charged Friday, county Prosecutor Terry Modesitt said.

A telephone message seeking comment was left at the office of Michael Wright, a public defender assigned to represent Tryon.

"I didn't think anyone would come up to a lemonade stand and steal. That's really low," 12-year-old Fred Erstine said.

The kids said they would continue to sell lemonade, but with an adult's supervision.