Center Grove

"He is autistic and has some intellectual deficiency issues, such that we concluded that his culpability was very low," prosecutor Lance Hamner said of the 16-year-old.

"He was a person who had mental and psychological issues. He was simply told what to do because he was very easily led and not really fully understanding of what was going on."

Three of the four boys charged in a thwarted plot to take over Center Grove High School and hold students and staff hostage will not go to prison.

Johnson County Juvenile Magistrate Marla Clark on Tuesday ordered two of them, one 15 and one 16, to enroll in a twice-weekly county program for help in making good decisions.

The two boys also were restricted to their homes for 60 days and can leave only to attend functions with their parents and to go to school or medical appointments.

The pair also is on probation for 18 months, during which they can have no access to weapons. Clark ordered participation by both sets of parents. Each boy was ordered to cooperate with educational plans, too.

The magistrate also instructed one boy to reside with his father and take all medications prescribed.

FRANKLIN, Ind. - The convicted leader of an alleged plot by four teenagers to bring guns to their high school, kill the principal and take students and teachers hostage will be treated at a mental health center. Hearings for the three other boys are scheduled Tuesday.

"Our main concern was that he not be returned to the community at this point," Johnson County Deputy Prosecutor Jennifer Pinnick said of the 16-year-old boy who was described by authorities as the leader of the plot at Center Grove High School.

"Because he was in detention, he had not had any rehabilitation, and now I think he is going to get that," she said. "It was a fair sentence."

Johnson County Juvenile Magistrate Marla Clark, who must approve all juvenile plea agreements, ordered treatment for the leader at Damar Services in Indianapolis. He will remain on probation until he turns 18.

The private center serves school-age children with developmental disabilities, mental retardation and autism, as well as those with challenging and behavioral and emotional issues, Pinnick said.

A juvenile magistrate has found a 16-year-old boy responsible for planning the violent takeover of Center Grove High School, a plot that police disrupted after they were tipped off by other students.

Johnson Circuit Judge Mark Loyd said the teen could be sentenced to the Indiana Department of Correction until he reaches age 21. The boy’s fate will be decided June 8.

Police alleged the plot included killing the high school principal and holding more than 2,300 students and educators captive for a ransom of $4 million to $6 million.

Magistrate Marla Clark’s “true” finding against the ringleader is the equivalent of a guilty finding for an adult. In her written finding, filed Thursday, Clark said the boy took overt action to carry out the plot.

Clark wrote the boy engaged in a conversation with another teenager about his plan to take guns to school, cause the school to be locked down, round up all the students of the school and place them in the gym, confine them there and shoot some of them.

She also said the boy said he would demand money and cars.

Additionally, Clark found, the boy assigned other boys to check the school for people hiding and participate in other parts of the plan, including getting guns.

A list was made of students to be protected and, Clark said, the boy wrote out an outline of the plot.

A day in court ended with no decision for a teenager accused of planning a school attack.

Prosecutors say last month four teenagers plotted a violent takeover of Center Grove High School. On Thursday, the 16-year-old described as the ringleader appeared in juvenile court.

A judge listened to several hours of arguments and testimony. She won't issue a decision for at least 12 days.

Johnson County Prosecutor Lance Hamner said today his decision not to seek moving the cases into adult court was based on the boys’ psychological evaluations and criminal histories.

“The psychological evaluations came back a couple of days ago and based on the information in that report, it seems most appropriate to adjudicate the cases through the juvenile court system,” Hamner said today.

Under Indiana law, a child must stay in the juvenile system unless the court orders the case moved to adult court, Hamner said.
While the boys will face juvenile court charges, crimes that would be Class B felonies if brought against an adult, they face serious consequences.

“In these cases, none of the kids had any significant juvenile record,” Hamner said.

Although the psychological profiles are confidential, the information in them would impel a court to retain the cases in the juvenile system, he added.

“Therefore, filing for adult court jurisdiction would not be appropriate under the circumstances,” Hamner said.

In the juvenile system, a defendant could receive incarceration in the Johnson County Juvenile Detention Center or be sentenced to a state juvenile facility under the jurisdiction of the Department of Corrections.

“If he’s sent to the Department of Corrections, he can be incarcerated up to age 21,” Hamner said.

"There's no ADA (Americans With Disabilities Act) action, no alternative school, and he is the only one without special needs and without federal guidelines in his favor," Newcomb said. The boy's parents do not want him to return to the high school and will not fight the expulsion in an upcoming hearing with the school, Newcomb said.

"We are going to seek alternative schooling for him," he said. "We are working with the prosecutor because he has less culpability than some of the other boys."

Their lawyers told the magistrate the boys had mental and emotional difficulties. Also, each attorney said Center Grove administrators did not expel his client, allowing the three boys to continue their public education.

Parts of the freshman boys' plan were outlined in a prioritized written list, documents said. Assignments included obtaining weapons and a getaway car, and freeing a list of preferred students from those taken hostage at a rally for the boys basketball team March 3.

One motive for the plot was bullying by athletes against less physically gifted students, court documents said.

Sheriff's deputies later were told that one boy, designated the ringleader, planned to kill his parents before carrying out the takeover of the school and its 2,250 students for a ransom of $4 million to $6 million.

A Center Grove freshman was planning to kill his parents and principal before taking over the high school at gunpoint and demanding a multimillion-dollar ransom, court documents show.

The plot, which also involved three of his classmates, was exposed March 2, but court records filed Monday by the Johnson County prosecutor state that the 15-year-old ringleader told fellow detainees at the Johnson County Juvenile Center the next day that he eventually would carry out the plans.

He said he knew he would "either spend the rest of his life in prison or end up dead" but "at least he would die happy," according to court records filed the prosecutor, Lance Hamner.
The documents detailed the plot and charged four freshmen -- three age 15, one 16 -- with conspiracy to commit criminal confinement with a deadly weapon, a felony.

The four plotted to take control of students and staff during a March 3 rally for the boys basketball team and demand at least $4 million.

One motive was retaliation against "jocks or older athletes," according to the documents.

Outside the closed hearing, Deputy Prosecutor Jennifer Pinnick said keeping the students detained was "in the interest of the safety of the community.

Prosecutor Lance Hamner said he would seek to move the cases to adult court, with conspiracy to commit confinement with a deadly weapon, a Class B felony, as the likely charge. The possible penalty is six to 20 years in prison.

Center Grove administrators probably will decide later this week whether to begin expulsion proceedings, said Superintendent Candace Milhon-Baer.

James Nussbaum, 18, a forward on the varsity basketball team, said that surprised him.” You see the TV and movies and stuff, and it seems like the athletes kind of run the school," he said. "It really doesn't seem like that at our school. I don't see people . . . making other people feel bad just for the heck of it."

"I don't see a lot of bullying going on at our school," said senior Nikki Parks, 17.

They could face a charge of conspiracy to commit confinement with a deadly weapon, he said. The Class B felony carries a penalty of six to 20 years in prison.

"High school's only, what, 700 days of your life?" Shene said of the alleged plot. "There's so much more past it."

"Even though these kids can cite bullying," said Shene, 42, "this is the worst kind of bullying you can do."

"These kids were mad at student athletes for making fun of them," the sheriff said. "That's one of the motives that has surfaced.

"They were considering a hostage situation and taking over the entire school."

Investigators thought the threat was credible, McLaughlin said. The students may have been planning to seek ransom, he said.