Warren County students charged in school threats to stay in detention

Judge: Boys to remain at center at least until they take polygraph tests.

A Warren County LEBANON — judge has decided to continue the detention of two boys accused of making school threats in the days after the deadly mass shooting at a high school in Florida.

On Wednesday, Judge Joe Kirby ordered the 14- and 17-year-old boys to remain in the Warren County Detention Center, at least until they complete a polygraph test.

Kirby ordered the 17-year-old Lebanon High School student, who has already served 11 days in detention to stay in detention, despite appeals for his release in a courtroom gallery filled with family, friends and supporters.

“Until I have that, I cannot take the chance and release him,” Kirby said in declining to free the Lebanon boy.

In the Lebanon case, the student is charged with inducing panic by texting, “THAT’S IT IM GONNA SHOOT UP A SCHOOL I CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE” to friends on Feb. 15.

His lawyer, Ed Perry, said the school board had voted not to expel the boy, making it possible for him to return to school on Monday.

But Kirby said this anticipated the boy attending the alternative school, rather than regular classes, at the high school.

Earlier Wednesday, Kirby ordered a 14-year-old Hamilton Twp. boy accused of inducing panic, making false alarms and intimidation of a witness in a school threat case at Little Miami High School to remain in custody and undergo a mental health evaluation, as well as submit to a polygraph before being released.

The boy is accused of sending a Snapchat of him holding a realistic toy gun to a friend’s head that left other students worried he would bring a gun to school in the days after the fatal shooting of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

He has admitted to the charges, but Kirby declined to decide the sentence or free the boy on Tuesday.

The judge said he was not ready to free the boy, who insisted the

‘THAT’S IT IM GONNA SHOOT UP A SCHOOL I CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE’ Text from Lebanon student to friends on Feb. 15

threats were just a joke.

“Maybe I’m out of touch, but I don’t get your all’s humor,” Kirby said, also expressing concern that an unloaded handgun was found in the boy’s nightstand after his mother told police all guns were secured in a safe.

The boy’s lawyer, Kim Bui, said “he wants to do anything he can” to convince the judge he would not follow through on the threat.

Kirby told the boy’s mother he was not swayed by her explanation that guns were a big part of the family of hunters and the boy was trained to properly handle firearms. She explained the home was in disarray after a recent move.

“It was just because of the quick move,” she said. “He’s been around guns and stuff all his life.”

In both cases, no hearing was scheduled to reconsider detention until the polygraphs and, in the Little Miami case, a mental exam is completed.