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Centerville High School wrestler Dillon Kelley (top) holds down Valley View's Michael Land during a tournament in December. Kelley was suspended from school, and the sectional meet, after allegedly stealing cookies from the cafeteria. But a restraining order was filed that allowed him to competeClick to enlarge

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DAYTON — The parents of wrestler Dillon Kelley claim they tried to settle a dispute with Centerville High School so their son could compete in the Division I high school sectional wrestling tournament last weekend.

The eventual stalemate caused Kelley's lawsuit against the City of Centerville, Centerville City Schools, Centerville Board of Education and individuals at the school.

Kelley, a 16-year-old sophomore, was arrested for alleged theft of cookies in the school cafeteria on Feb. 10. He served an out-of-school suspension on Feb. 11, but decided to fight the school when it suspended him from wrestling in the sectional.

Montgomery County Court Judge Mary K. Huffman granted a temporary restraining order against the school on Friday, Feb. 20.

On Monday, Centerville High School — in an attempt to stop Kelley from competing in the district at Fairfield High School on Saturday, Feb. 28 — filed a motion asking the court to overturn the restraining order.

Kelley qualified for the district with a fourth-place finish in the 140-pound weight class at the Centerville 1 sectional. Pending the court's ruling, he's scheduled to face Glen Este's Tommy Fehring, who won the Moeller sectional. The alternate is Dylan DeWeese of Miamisburg.

"They (Centerville High School) really don't want him to wrestle," said Matthew D. DiCicco, Kelley's attorney. "I will say that it's truly unfortunate that it has come to this."

Kelley's mother, Jennifer Marovich, called the events "unfortunate and absurd. I'm just surprised it has come to this. We tried every avenue to work things out with the school. We made every effort, even before getting an attorney involved.

"I certainly don't condone theft and if I thought my son had stolen, I wouldn't be advocating for him. I tried to talk to (Centerville principal) Eileen Booher and (Athletic Director) Ron Ullery, and we just weren't able to get anywhere.

"It was, we thought, a misunderstanding. When we weren't able to make any headway, we had no choice but to hire an attorney. It's been very difficult for Dillon."

Booher refused comment, citing the student's privacy.

"It's a student discipline matter, and I don't know that we want to go into the details about what occurred or what didn't occur," Centerville Superintendent Gary Smiga said. "It's also being disputed. I don't know that we have really any desire or right to talk about it."

Marovich said a security officer at the cafeteria took Kelley to Centerville police officer Edward Skinner, the school resource officer, who arrested Kelley.

The trouble all began when Kelley was going through the lunch line in the cafeteria.

"My son had four items in his hands — they don't have trays — and he was trying to pay with cash," Marovich said. "(The security officer) could see the cookies in his hand as he went through the cashier's line," according to her testimony.

"She asked the cashier if he had paid for them, and he hadn't because the cashier didn't see them, and he wasn't paying attention.

"After seeing the cookies and learning that he had not paid for them because the cashier had not rung them up, she took him to the police officer and he was arrested. After he was arrested, he was taken to the principal's office."

Marovich said her son paid $3.10 at the cashier's register.

"The cookies he didn't pay for were $1.30, and he paid with a $5. He had enough money to pay for everything."

Marovich said she went public with the incident "because I would like my son's name cleared. He isn't guilty of what they're accusing him of. I told Ron Ullery, 'Character is much more important to me than any wrestling tournament. I'm trying to raise a man, not a wrestler or a baseball player.'

"Dillon's a great kid. He's played sports all his life. He's a very passionate kid who loves life. He's never been in any trouble. He's worked really hard to get to this point, and when this happened, he was like a broken person — crushed. Now he's back in limbo."

Marovich said she can't believe three cookies in a stack, wrapped in cellophane, could cause so much heartache.

"I told Dillon, 'We could buy cookies for the whole school for what it's going to cost in legal fees.' "