A city teenager who had been ransacking numerous downtown Dunkirk businesses has been placed in a detention facility.

County District Attorney Jason Schmidt confirmed the perpetrator, who damaged storefronts as well as items inside the establishments along Central Avenue, Fourth Street and in Wright Park, was sentenced to one year at an undisclosed location. Over a 60-day period, the actions by the youth created chaos for both law enforcement as well as merchants.

Due to his age, his identity was not disclosed.

David Ortolano, city police chief, said in an interview last month the juvenile had been nabbed numerous times by city officers after the incidents, but was released each time. “It’s very frustrating on our part,” he said. “We’re solving the crime.”

Ortolano blamed the state’s Raise the Age law, which changed when a child can be prosecuted as an adult to 18 in criminal cases that began in 2018. Prior to the legislation, New York was one of two remaining states to hold 16-year-olds criminally responsible.

One downtown business owner called the vandal “a menace to the business district,” noting an alarm at the location went off once the individual struck. He was tracked down minutes later creating a stir on Fourth Street, the owner said.

Actions by the teen also got attention in Albany. State Sen. George Borrello, during budget hearings in January, told the state’s Chief Administrative Judge Joseph Zayas that the Raise the Age law has tied the hands of local authorities while a criminal creates chaos.

Borrello, during his time on the floor, noted the maliciousness displayed in one of the many establishments that had been “terrorized.” “He was literally dancing in front of a security camera as he broke bottles in a bar that he broke into,” Borrello said. “How do we address that in the new world of Raise the Age?”

Zayas, while lamenting the incidents, pinned blame on local policies and those who make the rulings. “Every judge has to exercise his or her own discretion on these cases,” he said. “Some judges might have decided on the third or fourth alleged commission of a crime that detention is appropriate. … It’s the county’s responsibility to create programs to which these young people are sent and monitor their progress in the program.”