MONROE - A 15-year-old male confessed to police Tuesday to writing a threatening message at Monroe High School found March 30.
The message, written on a bathroom wall, led to the evacuation of all students and staff to Abraham Lincoln Accelerated Learning Academy.
The boy was initially charged with disorderly conduct and released to his parents.
Monroe Police Chief Fred Kelley said the parents of the students were called to bring in the student, as standard procedure in the investigation.
"The parents were aware that the child was a suspect and why (he was a suspect)," Kelley told The Monroe Times on Wednesday. The parents were told of the student's confession, and the student was released to them.
The initial charge is based on probable cause, given the confession and what the message said exactly, Kelley said.
"The charge has to fit the crime," Kelley said. Even though the message was non-specific, it was perceived as a threat, he said.
The circumstances surrounding the initial charge did not meet the criteria that would require the juvenile be held in secure detention, Kelley said.
The matter was referred to juvenile intake authorities, who will work with the district attorney to reviewing the initial charge and determine whether to petition for further charges.
"At this point, his confession is for one incident," Kelley said.
The student has been suspended from school pending a hearing by the district's school board.
Monroe School District Superintendent Larry Brown said the district will follow typical procedures according to state statutes to pursue the appropriate disciplinary course of action. The district has 15 days for the school board to hold a hearing to determine what will happen, he said.
Brown said the district is working out a time when everyone involved can meet.
That board meeting will be in closed session, but the date and time will be posted publicly.
"Schools conduct their own investigations. They are not permitted to use only police information, but must arrive at their own conclusion," Brown said.
The confession Tuesday was a result of "good police work" during the normal course of investigation, Kelley said.
"We didn't charge in on this, just to get one out," he said.
The investigations by the Monroe Police Department in conjunction with the Monroe School District and interviews by Monroe Police detectives and agents of the U.S. Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), continue into other threatening messages that caused evacuations at the high school, March 26, and Monroe Middle School, March 31.
Kelley said each incident is being investigated separately, but because of the way the messages are related the investigations deal with the same sort of circumstances.
"Each (case) has its own set of facts," Kelley said. "Whether it's one act or a few, it's still a separate incident."
Neither Kelley nor Brown would say how many people of interest are involved in the investigations.
"It's hard to tell you," Kelley said. "Every tip is checked. We've gotten hundreds of leads, but not all are checked. We have dozens of people as potential suspects or potential witnesses."
According to a news release Wednesday, the school district will continue to aggressively investigate the Monroe Middle School threat and the first threat at the Monroe High School.
Brown said the school still is gathering information and developing a list of suspects to interview to find the person or persons responsible, he added.
The district is reviewing images from cameras mounted in hallways to develop a list of individuals in each situation and who are known to have been in the vicinity during the times the messages are suspected to have been written.
Brown said a group of students is being interviewed and would not say how many, but indicated that investigations into the incidents "weave together simultaneously."
The school district asks any student, parent or community member with information that would beneficial to identifying the parties responsible for the remaining two threats to contact Principal Mark Burandt at Monroe High School or Principal Bill Van Meer at the Monroe Middle School.
The message, written on a bathroom wall, led to the evacuation of all students and staff to Abraham Lincoln Accelerated Learning Academy.
The boy was initially charged with disorderly conduct and released to his parents.
Monroe Police Chief Fred Kelley said the parents of the students were called to bring in the student, as standard procedure in the investigation.
"The parents were aware that the child was a suspect and why (he was a suspect)," Kelley told The Monroe Times on Wednesday. The parents were told of the student's confession, and the student was released to them.
The initial charge is based on probable cause, given the confession and what the message said exactly, Kelley said.
"The charge has to fit the crime," Kelley said. Even though the message was non-specific, it was perceived as a threat, he said.
The circumstances surrounding the initial charge did not meet the criteria that would require the juvenile be held in secure detention, Kelley said.
The matter was referred to juvenile intake authorities, who will work with the district attorney to reviewing the initial charge and determine whether to petition for further charges.
"At this point, his confession is for one incident," Kelley said.
The student has been suspended from school pending a hearing by the district's school board.
Monroe School District Superintendent Larry Brown said the district will follow typical procedures according to state statutes to pursue the appropriate disciplinary course of action. The district has 15 days for the school board to hold a hearing to determine what will happen, he said.
Brown said the district is working out a time when everyone involved can meet.
That board meeting will be in closed session, but the date and time will be posted publicly.
"Schools conduct their own investigations. They are not permitted to use only police information, but must arrive at their own conclusion," Brown said.
The confession Tuesday was a result of "good police work" during the normal course of investigation, Kelley said.
"We didn't charge in on this, just to get one out," he said.
The investigations by the Monroe Police Department in conjunction with the Monroe School District and interviews by Monroe Police detectives and agents of the U.S. Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), continue into other threatening messages that caused evacuations at the high school, March 26, and Monroe Middle School, March 31.
Kelley said each incident is being investigated separately, but because of the way the messages are related the investigations deal with the same sort of circumstances.
"Each (case) has its own set of facts," Kelley said. "Whether it's one act or a few, it's still a separate incident."
Neither Kelley nor Brown would say how many people of interest are involved in the investigations.
"It's hard to tell you," Kelley said. "Every tip is checked. We've gotten hundreds of leads, but not all are checked. We have dozens of people as potential suspects or potential witnesses."
According to a news release Wednesday, the school district will continue to aggressively investigate the Monroe Middle School threat and the first threat at the Monroe High School.
Brown said the school still is gathering information and developing a list of suspects to interview to find the person or persons responsible, he added.
The district is reviewing images from cameras mounted in hallways to develop a list of individuals in each situation and who are known to have been in the vicinity during the times the messages are suspected to have been written.
Brown said a group of students is being interviewed and would not say how many, but indicated that investigations into the incidents "weave together simultaneously."
The school district asks any student, parent or community member with information that would beneficial to identifying the parties responsible for the remaining two threats to contact Principal Mark Burandt at Monroe High School or Principal Bill Van Meer at the Monroe Middle School.