Texas Teen Who Paralyzed Woman During Robbery Admits To Crime In Jailhouse Phone Calls

Last month, a Vietnamese mother was left paralyzed after 17-year-old Joseph Harrell violently robbed her. The teen was arrested, and a jailhouse phone call captured him admitting to the offense and still threatening the victim.

During the calls, Harrell can be heard talking about probation and laughing about those who believe that he could be given a 20-year sentence for the crime.

“We were snatching purses. I hopped out, snatched the purse, the lady ran with money, I grabbed her, slammed her, and she was paralyzed,” he stated.

“The lady wants justice and some more (expletive). They’ll try to max me out 20 years basically. That (expletive). I ain’t going for it. The (expletive) already ran up $230,000 off GoFundMe. (Expletive) better run on with her life. Like, (expletive) you done run up $230,000. Look. They say she ran up $230,000, and she’ll be back walking in no less than a year,” he added.

The recording was released by someone connected to the investigation as a judge was deciding to cut Harrell’s bond from $200,000 to $100,000.

44-year-old Nhung Truong was seen on a recording being attacked by Harrell on Feb. 13 as a robbery took place in Houston. The woman had just taking a large amount of money out of the bank in order to take a trip back to Vietnam to see relatives. She experienced broken ribs and a severed spinal cord injury during the attack.

Authorities say that Harrell followed the woman from a bank in Chinatown prior to following her 20 miles away.

Now, Truong can’t walk, and her doctors say that there is a 50% chance that she will ever be able to walk again.

There was $330,000 generated from a GoFundMe as of Wednesday to assist Truong with her medical expenses.