Four bus vandals released on house arrest

While the community grappled this week with the question of why anyone would disable buses that carry hundreds children to and from school, four eleventh-grade Incline High School students awaited their release from Jan Evans Juvenile Detention Center in Reno.

The four young men arrested on suspicion of sabotaging the bus fleet last weekend were released Wednesday on house arrest following a detention hearing said Liz Florez, program manager for Washoe County Department of Juvenile Services.

"A plea hearing will be the next thing to happen but no date has been set," Florez said. "Plea hearings generally occur four to six weeks after they are released from custody."

Steve Mulvenin, communications consultant for Washoe County School District, said the boys will remain on an emergency suspension from school pending a disciplinary hearing by the district.

No date has yet been set for that hearing which will determine if the boys are permitted to go back to school at all.

"I can't say if it's going to be expulsion, long-term suspension or what - we'll just have to wait and see," said Incline High School principal John Clark.

Clark said that as long as the boys are suspended, they may not participate in any school activity, including sports.

Like many Incline community members, Clark was disheartened to hear that students were to blame for tampering with the bus fleet Monday morning.

"We didn't know if this was the work of adults or students because of the level of sophistication," Clark said. "When we found out it was the work of the students, I was really shocked and saddened.

"What made this doubly shocking is that all these boys are good kids I wouldn't expect to do something like this. They're good kids that made a very, very bad choice."

The boys told authorities the reason they disabled the buses was that they didn't want to go to school that day.

"These kids weren't thinking, especially because most of the high school students either drive themselves or ride with another student - they really affected younger kids from the other schools," Clark said.

Reaction

The backlash from other students at the high school was mixed, some disapproving of the incident and others wanting to defend their friends, Clark said.

"Some students were upset because they believed others had 'snitched' and there were some incidents where kids were singled out for possible retaliation," Clark said. "The whole school was warned that there would be no tolerance and serious consequences for such actions."

Regarding the fate of the boys, Clark said he expects the judge to consider both sides of the argument, "What they did was, of course, very serious," he said. "But they are first-time offenders."

Whether the boys intended to hurt anyone or really did just want to get out of school is yet to be determined.

"I don't think they were trying to hurt anybody," Clark said. "By cutting the radiator lines, they left a pool of fluid that was a dead giveaway to the drivers,"

Bus mechanics said the buses would never have made it on the road because they undergo a series of checks every day prior to leaving the lot.

"Pranks happen, but when you cross the line and do something that could cause bodily harm, it's serious," Clark said.



SIDEBAR

IF YOU ARE ARRESTED AND TAKEN TO THE DETENTION CENTER, ONE OF FOUR THINGS MAY HAPPEN:

1. Unconditional Release: You are released from custody when your parents or guardian come to pick you up. You do not have to follow any conditions. You may be issued a court date at a later time to face your charges.

• If you are arrested on an allegation of domestic battery, you must remain at the detention facility for 12 hours before being released.

2. Conditional Release: You are released from custody after being placed on house arrest or electronic monitoring. You must follow the conditions imposed on you for the time period specified by the judge.

3. Conditional Release to Placement: You are released from custody into a facility (such as a group home or a residential treatment center). You may be issued a court date at a later time to face your charges.

4. Detention: The judge may find that you must remain at the Juvenile Detention Center. In Reno, there is only one detention center for kids. It is located at the Jan Evans Juvenile Justice Center, 650 Ferrari Mc-Leod Blvd. Reno, NV 89512.

• The District Attorney's office must file a petition containing the charges against you within eight days after your detention.

• Your lawyer will come to the detention center to meet with you. You will have a court date set approximately 2 to 4 weeks after your detention.



DETENTION HEARING

If you are detained in the detention facility, you must have a court hearing within 72 hours after the start of your detention. This excludes the weekend and holidays.

At this hearing, the Judge decides whether you must stay at the detention facility or can be released in the ways stated above. You will have a lawyer from the public defender's office meet with you at the detention center and then lawyer will represent you at this hearing.

from: http://www.washoecounty.us/defender/juve_arrest.html~color=blue&;text_version=