A 17-year-old Mentor boy has admitted making an online threat against Mentor High School.
The homeschooled juvenile pleaded ‘true’ – the juvenile equivalent of guilty – Wednesday in Lake County Juvenile Court to making false alarms. The charge is a fifth-degree felony that carries a maximum penalty of one year in prison if committed by an adult.
The teen, in court with his parents and defense attorney Mark Ziccarelli, politely answered all of Judge Karen Lawson’s questions on what he did Sept. 12 to get into trouble.
‘I posted a Facebook status update saying, ‘I could have killed a lot of people at Mentor High today. Instead, me and my fellows took our AKs to the fields for a test run,’ ‘ he said.
‘I was looking for some attention,’ he added.
School administrators learned about the threat the following Monday after a girl who lived outside the district saw it online and called authorities. Since the teen was taken into custody and was not a student, the district did not close the school.
The teen, who remains in juvenile detention, had been scheduled to go to trial on the same charge Wednesday but instead pleaded guilty.
He told Lawson he has no access to guns and never planned on hurting himself or anyone else. He also told the judge the juvenile detention staff have been kind to him.
‘We can turn this around, you know that?’ the judge told him.
A sentencing date had not yet been scheduled.
The charge was upgraded to a felony after prosecuting attorney Eric Condon determined police spent $2,723.52 investigating the case.
Possible punishments range from probation to incarceration at a youth prison until his 21st birthday.
