He's 16 years old - and looking at 15 years in prison.
His biological aunt, legal guardian and "mom," Debbie Earhart - who's raised him since birth - wants Steven to learn his lesson, but not by losing more than a decade of his life.
Earhart, 45, of Bedford Park won't post the teen's $3,000 cash bail, believing the only way Steven will stay out of trouble and finish school is if he's locked up.
"He needs to be in a program, he needs therapy - he has ADHD [Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder] and behavioral problems - he's afraid," she said.
Earhart said Steven called her, telling her he had to change cell blocks after jailed members of the Trinitario gang threatened to choke him because he doesn't speak Spanish.
Short and slight, Steven is due back in court tomorrow, when his Legal Aid attorney will try to downgrade his 10 felony and six misdemeanor charges to a youthful offender status, which would land him just one year in jail.
The teen's parents have been in and out of prison and absent from his life, Earhart said.
"I think that's why he's so rebellious and angry," she said.
Steven failed all his classes last year at special education Lewis and Clark High School.
He will have to repeat the ninth grade, after he missing 37 days and being late 46 times.
But Earhart said, "He would do anything for his grandma. If she needed him to go to the store, he would drop everything and go for her."
Steven was first arrested on May 11,near Public School 54 on Decatur Ave. He is accused of selling four Ziploc bags containing crack cocaine to an undercover Bronx narcotics officer, according to a criminal complaint.
The teen was released on his own recognizance after he was arraigned on charges of criminal possession of and sale of a controlled substance.
On June 28, he was arrested along with Marcus Quattlebaum, 17, and Elijah Davis, 18, for allegedly robbing a man of his iPod on Hoffman St. near Middle School 45 - the school Earhart's daughter, an honors student, attends.
According to the criminal complaint, Steven also snatched two gold chains from the victim's neck.
As the baby-faced, scared-looking boy stood before Acting Supreme Court Justice William Mogulescu at his arraignment on June 29, Earhart reeled in the audience.
"They'll eat you alive in state prison. . . . Your mom is tired of seeing you locked up - do you think she likes sitting here?" Mogulescu asked, pointing to a visibly stressed-out Earhart.
Before releasing him into Earhart's custody , Mogulescu issued the boy a stiff warning that if he were caught doing anything wrong again, he'd be thrown right in the clink.
Earhart tried to enroll him in the Fortune Society - a nonprofit social service and advocacy program dedicated to formerly incarcerated individuals - but he got into trouble again.
Just a week later, on July 6, the troubled teen - along with "five unapprehended males" - allegedly kicked a man in the ribs and took his backpack and iPod from the man's pocket.
"There are people that commit murders and only go away for eight or nine years," Earhart said. "Why is he looking at 15?
"I don't condone what he did - he was wrong and he needs to pay for it - but he really needs help above anything."
DAILY NEWS WRITER
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