A student at Winfield High School charged with making a bomb threat last spring has been placed in a pretrial diversion program for one year.
A juvenile complaint was dismissed against Chad Lewis, and another complaint filed charging him as an adult with criminal threat. Prosecution will be deferred for one year as long as he does not violate any terms of the agreement.
If he successfully completes the program, he will not be prosecuted and the pending complaint will be dismissed, according to the agreement.
Criminal threat is classified as a level 9 person felony and carries a possible sentence of between five to 17 months in prison and a fine.
Lewis was 16 at the time of the incident on May 15th. A series of threats were made that week and both the middle and high school were eventually evacuated. Nothing unusual was found during a search of the schools.
Lewis stipulated in the agreement that he did communicate a threat May 15 with the intent to cause the building to be evacuated, or made such a threat with reckless disregard of the risk of causing such an evacuation.
In addition to the usual terms of the program, Lewis has special requirements. He must obtain an evaluation from Cowley County Mental Health and follow any recommendations for therapy, counseling and treatment. The information will be available to the County Attorney’s Office and Lewis has to submit monthly reports to show he is complying with the requirements.
A 10 p.m. curfew is in effect unless he is at work or with his parents and he has to attend school every day with no tardies, unexcused absences or disciplinary referrals. Lewis must also be employed or perform five hours of community service weekly.
He had to pay $163 in court costs and $493 in restitution to the Winfield Police Department, the agreement states.
Another boy, Michael Mason, was also charged with making a threat. He has been placed on probation for one year. A third youth was only 12 years old and the case against him is closed to the public.
