Northwestern students plead not guilty to multiple charges

Four Northwestern High School seniors charged with felonies in connection with a school prank that forced the district to cancel classes could avoid jail time.

Stewart Parrott, 18, of New Carlisle; Anthony Esposito, 19, of Springfield; and Justin Weekly, 18, of Urbana, pleaded not guilty to charges of vandalism and disrupting public service Monday.

Taylor Monroe, 18, of North Hampton, is scheduled to be arraigned in court Tuesday morning, according to court records.

They are accused of removing the valve stems and deflating the tires on 24 school buses Friday.

“What they did impacted an entire part of Clark County,” Clark County Sheriff Gene Kelly said.

The Clark County Prosecutor’s Office has reached out to the suspects to be part of its diversion program, Prosecutor Andrew Wilson said.

The teens would admit their guilt in the case, Wilson said, and complete community service hours and pay back the school for the damages.

If they complete the program, the charges against them aren’t pursued in court, he said.

Detectives arrested the four students Friday afternoon after an investigation into the vandalism, which included reviewing surveillance video from the transportation garage at 5780 Troy Road.

“I believe the four seniors believe they were committing a prank and their intent was to close school down,” said Tony Orr, superintendent of the Northwestern Local School District. “However they didn’t think ahead to the results of all the consequences.”

It cost the district more than $1,500 to repair the 60 tires, Orr said, and teachers will have to make up the day at the end of the school year. It hasn’t been determined if students will make up the day.

A field trip scheduled for 114 fourth graders in the district was canceled Friday and cannot be rescheduled, Orr said.

Each student paid money for the trip and will be refunded, he added.

The teens also left a message in chalk behind that read: “You have been pranked by seniors 2015” and “To have school or to not have school?”

The school district agreed the diversion program was appropriate for the students, Orr said.

“The idea of community service hours and making full restitution to the school district and certainly the community goes a long way,” he said.

The four students charged will go through discipline hearings, Orr said, which have a range of outcomes with the most serious being suspension or expulsion.

“Do I anticipate that it will be more severe?” Orr said. “Certainly we’re going to look at the totality of all the costs involved.”

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