It is Warren County’s 11th school threat case since the fatal shooting on Feb. 14 at Marjory Stoneham Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla.
“Parents are encouraged again to discuss with your children the seriousness of making these types of threats. The statement ‘I was only joking’ no longer excuses the behavior. The Warren County Court System has made it very clear that students who are charged for making threats will face serious consequences,” Yohey said.
A 10-year-old South Lebanon boy was spared detention on Wednesday for allegedly threatening the lives of his classmates in the Kings Local Schools.
It was the second case involving a 10-year-old in Warren County since the latest deadly school shooting.
The South Lebanon boy who attends the Kings Local Schools is accused of saying, “I’m going to kill someone” after being suspended for 10 days following alleged death threats against multiple students and forming a “kill list.” He is charged with inducing panic.
Judge Joe Kirby placed him on house arrest and ordered mental health treatment and attendance in a school program at the detention center. The boy is also barred from contact with classmates whose lives he threatened, the school district or access to weapons or internet access, while the case is pending.
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On Tuesday, a 10-year-old Franklin boy was released to his parents while facing a charge of inducing panic at school.
“They just keep getting younger and younger,” Kirby said before a recess during which he mulled whether to spare the boy a stay in the detention center with older juveniles, some facing weapons and sex charges.
The Franklin boy, a fifth-grader at Schenck Elementary school, will be on house arrest. His father told Judge Joe Kirby all weapons were removed from the home in anticipation of his release.
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He is accused of making statements on March 5 to three students “that he was going to bring a gun to school, kill everyone and then kill himself,” according to the case filed on Monday in the court in Lebanon.
The school principal investigated the case before contacting the police, according to the charge.
On March 7, the boy “described being bullied at school, and was having problems dealing with the bullying” during a meeting with the principal, his parents and Detective David Hatfield, the detective said in the charging documents.
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Kirby ordered the boy considered for a polygraph and assessed, while under 24-hour line-of-site supervision. He has been suspended and faces expulsion, his father told Kirby.
On Monday, Kirby released a 17-year-old girl after 21 days of detention, the fifth case in which he released the child to their parents after a polygraph test.
Neither 10-year-old will undergo a polygraph, because the tests are not used on subjects under 12, coourt officials said Wednesday.
It was unclear when the child in the latest case would appear in court.
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