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Sentencing delayed for Dwight student, 15, who made bomb threat
By Tony Sapochetti
tsapochetti@pantagraph.com
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PONTIAC -- A Dwight 15-year-old who made a bomb threat in September at Dwight Township High School won’t be sentenced until Dec. 18 because the state needs more time to figure out how much money to seek as restitution.

The sentencing was scheduled for Tuesday afternoon, but Livingston County First Assistant State’s Attorney Carey Luckman asked the court for more time to assess the cost of the emergency response.

“It is important for rehabilitative issues … as it is all about taking responsibility,” he said.

The juvenile’s defense attorney, Public Defender Paul Mason, argued that there had been plenty of time since the adjudicatory hearing, the juvenile court equivalent of a bench trial, in early October to come up with the correct figures.

After hearing arguments, Associate Judge Jennifer Bauknecht allowed Luckman to have more time in coming up with the proper amount of restitution.

“We want to handle things in a timely matter, and everybody wants to see a conclusion to this,” she said. “I do believe that more time is needed to gather all of the evidence involved.”

The sentencing has been rescheduled for Dec. 18.

More than 330 high school students plus faculty evacuated on Sept. 5 after a bomb threat was found typed on the display of a graphing calculator. Nothing suspicious was ever found at the school.

The juvenile was placed in the McLean County Juvenile Detention Center in Normal until his adjudicatory hearing.

The juvenile plead guilty to falsely making a terrorist threat, a Class 1 felony, and disorderly conduct, a Class C misdemeanor. After admitting leaving the threat, he was placed on home confinement with an electronic monitoring device.

Since then, the boy had cooperated with authorities and started attending classes Nov. 1 through the Alternative High School and SAVE program in Pontiac, Mason said.

Baucknect denied a defense motion to cancel electronic monitoring. After an emotional plea from the family, she allowed for them to not make payments on any fees until a later date.

“There are a number of issues to take into consideration here,” Bauknecht said. “I know that it is an inconvenience . . . but I think it is appropriate.”

He could face community service, curfew, custody change, five years of probation or 30 days of detention, or he could be placed in the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice until he is 21 years old.

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