Former East student accused in school threat case has level of supervision lowered

Monitoring requirements have been reduced for a suspended 16-year-old Columbus East student accused of communicating a threat with an intent of causing the school to be evacuated.

The 16-year-old, who was at school Feb. 20, was accused of making a social media threat against East on Snapchat, suggesting that the school would be “shot up” in two days.

That was less than a week after a former high school student in Parkland, Florida, killed 17 people — students and staffers — at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

The Columbus teen appeared with family members in Bartholomew County Juvenile Court on Wednesday before Magistrate Heather Mollo, represented by his attorney, Michael DeArmitt. The boy is accused of delinquency by committing intimidation, which would be a Level 6 felony if committed by an adult, court records state.

Mollo granted the juvenile probation department’s request that the teen’s supervision level be reduced from electronic monitoring to home supervision, allowing him to return to his job.

The Bartholomew County Prosecutor’s office had asked that the initial monitoring requirements and rules, as ordered when the delinquency petition was filed, remain in place.

The 16-year-old was released from secure detention at the Bartholomew County Youth Services Center into the custody of his father and stepmother, and was placed on electronic monitoring.

He was initially prohibited from attending work or any other activity not directly supervised by his parents or center staff.

Two parts of the order remain in effect, that the teen attend day reporting at the Bartholomew County Youth Services Center and that he have no contact with Columbus East, court officials said.

Day reporting is offered by the court system to students who have been suspended from school. Juveniles assigned to it are expected to be in a classroom with a teacher at the youth services center from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. on school days to work on classwork.

In addition to lowering the monitoring requirements, court officials set the next hearing date in the teen’s case for 9 a.m. May 2. The fact-finding hearing will be conducted to hear evidence about the teen’s innocence or guilt or to consider any agreement to resolve the case that could be reached by the prosecution and defense, Mollo said.

Meanwhile, a hearing date of 11 a.m. March 27 has been set in the second case involving a juvenile making a threat against Columbus East. That hearing is to determine whether that teen’s case should be waived to adult court.

The 16-year-old former student is accused of making a threat via social media when students were outdoors Feb. 21, having evacuated for a fire alarm.

While outside the school, East students began taking photos and video that they shared on social media. The former student sent a response back to one of the current students, making a threat of violence, investigators said.

The teen also is accused of sending a photo of himself holding a firearm with the threat, investigators said. Police identified the juvenile and located him in Columbus, arresting him on a preliminary charge of Level 6 felony intimidation. The petition to waive his case to adult court was filed Feb. 28 in Bartholomew Circuit Court.