DELAWARE — A Willis Education Center student who was charged with possession of a deadly weapon or dangerous ordnance at school pleaded not guilty to the charge.
The 16-year-old male student entered a denial — equivalent to a plea of not guilty in adult criminal court — during his March 16 arraignment in the Delaware County Common Pleas Court Juvenile Division, according to court records obtained by Delaware Source.
Editor’s Note: Delaware Source does not typically publish the names of minors charged in juvenile court. Unless a juvenile is charged as an adult or there is a compelling public safety reason, we choose not to identify them. Learn more.
Juvenile Judge David A. Hejmanowski ordered the student remain at The Central Ohio Youth Center in Marysville, where he has been in custody since his Feb. 26 arrest.
Hejmanowski scheduled a pretrial Zoom hearing for April 8 at 1:30 p.m.
March 5 hearing
Assistant Public Defender Jordan A. Patton is representing the student in this case, and asked that he be released at a March 5 hearing.
Intake officer Sydney Rees said at the hearing that if he were released, the student would live with his father on house arrest in Franklin County without access to his cellphone, which is still in custody.
At that same hearing, assistant prosecutor Karalyne Noble told Hejmanowski she was made aware the student allegedly posted a photo of himself with the same firearm at the Delaware Area Career Center, about a month prior to the incident at Willis.
That firearm was a 9mm Ruger PC Charger, according to the Feb. 26 911 dispatch report.
Hejmanowski ruled for the student to remain in custody “to protect the juvenile or others from immediate or threatened physical or emotional harm,” according to court records.
Hejmanowski also ruled there are reasonable grounds that the student may run away or commit further offenses if released.
Feb. 26 incident
Delaware Police Department School Resource Officer John Hartman took the 16-year-old into custody on Feb. 26 after recovering a firearm at Willis Education Center, where the student attends classes.
The student was taken into custody without incident after police were alerted to the incident from a source outside the school just before 9 a.m., and no injuries occurred.
“A student who does not live in Delaware saw the information on social media posted by the suspect and was concerned enough to call the police,” Delaware Police Chief Adam Moore previously told Delaware Source.
“It caused him to believe (the student) was in possession of a firearm at school,” Moore said.
Moore could not confirm if the social media post was a threat to school staff or student safety, or what social media platform it was shared to.
