"Senior prank" ends in felony charges

WAYNESBORO, Friday, May 8, 2009 -- Waynesboro Police Department arrested two students on criminal trespass charges when they entered the high school early Friday morning for a "senior prank." Edwin Santiago, 18, Waynesboro, and a female 17-year-old told police they were working on a senior prank when they accidently spooked the overnight custodial ...

[C-burg grad]

DUMB! Teens need to realize that, while pranks can be ok - they need not turn criminal! This just ruined their lives!

[Amy]

WOW, way to finish high school with a FELONY! Bravo to these two idiots. They shouldn't be allowed to graduate.

[Jewel]

Perfect! Absolutely perfect! Two D- average twits break into the school and get caught. Now school security will have to check all doors for tape when they make their rounds.

[labbieasf]

how do you know that they were d-average?

[Don_Carlo]

They should be given a medal for showing how weak the overfunded security system is.

I doubt they have ruined their lives.

Send "Brett Earp" from CASHS over there to add stability.

[dee]

yeah they def should've planned it out better. And perm. marker on the dry erase is not funny at all. but the school district definitely needs to drop the charges. Im tired of teens not being able to have any amount of fun... ever without ruining the rest of their lives. think about all of the things their parents did as children.

[In The Know]

dee wrote:

yeah they def should've planned it out better. And perm. marker on the dry erase is not funny at all. but the school district definitely needs to drop the charges. Im tired of teens not being able to have any amount of fun... ever without ruining the rest of their lives. think about all of the things their parents did as children.

What they had planned is not innocent "fun", Dee. It's destruction of property, involving Criminal Trespass, and Burglary. As for consequences, you all should know that our DA's office will reduce the charges.

[yougottabekiddin g]

I think something less than a felony charge is appropriate, like reducing it to a misdemeanor with a bunch of community service. In fact, that's probably how it will turn out.

[Amy]

dee wrote:

yeah they def should've planned it out better. And perm. marker on the dry erase is not funny at all. but the school district definitely needs to drop the charges. Im tired of teens not being able to have any amount of fun... ever without ruining the rest of their lives. think about all of the things their parents did as children.

Sure, take their word for it that all they planned on doing was writing on dry erase boards & painting. For all we know, they could've been at the school for some other reason. Fun MAY have included something done to the outside of the school that wasn't permanent. But they broke into the school... trespassing.

[Travis]

dee wrote:

yeah they def should've planned it out better. And perm. marker on the dry erase is not funny at all. but the school district definitely needs to drop the charges. Im tired of teens not being able to have any amount of fun... ever without ruining the rest of their lives. think about all of the things their parents did as children.

....Like make a halloween dummy and drop it off a railroad bridge into an oncoming train, the ol M-80 in the mailbox routine, hoppin frieght trains for a ride, 6 hits of blotter acid in the teachers coffee.

[Really]

Wonder what their parents think of all this, and is this their first criminal charge?

[Embedded Citizen]

And who's job is it to check these doors to make sure they are secured?

[societ]

That is what is wrong with the American society today....no one believes they should be held accountable for their actions! The broke into a building with the intent to destruct property!! Who would be paying to replace all the flooring and dry erase boards....the tax payer! Sorry, kids can have fun in ways that aren't destructive and illegal. They need to live with the consequences of their actions! Wake up!!!

[X Chambersburg Resident]

Boredom is the start of all bad ideas...

[C-Burg]

yougottabekidding wrote:

I think something less than a felony charge is appropriate, like reducing it to a misdemeanor with a bunch of community service. In fact, that's probably how it will turn out.

Franklin County no longer offers any type of community service to these kids that get in trouble. They are told that they must attend the Reality Tour held at the court house once a month. This tour is great for kids who are involved in drugs and alcohol, but if it relates to something else then its not much help.

[Spifffied]

Sorry, but this goes WAY beyond a "prank."
One charge should be intended institutional vandalism.

Unreal.

"They said they had planned to write names on the dry erase boards with permanent markers and to paint hallway floors..."

[Bre]

Embedded Citizen wrote:

And who's job is it to check these doors to make sure they are secured?

Exactly...if they taped the door during school, someone on the staff,should have caught it before they went home.The students were wrong to do this and should be punished, but all doors should be checked before going home at night!

[former rocket]

Dee...

you're exactly the reason that alternative education is so busy these days....you seem to think that destruction of property, criminal trespass are just harmless fun...how bout if it had been the hood of your car...that's no big deal right...give me a break...

[boyhowdy]

dee wrote:

yeah they def should've planned it out better. And perm. marker on the dry erase is not funny at all. but the school district definitely needs to drop the charges. Im tired of teens not being able to have any amount of fun... ever without ruining the rest of their lives. think about all of the things their parents did as children.

You wouldn't be saying it was just harmless fun if you had to clean up after it.The permanant marker would've been bad enough,but painting the hallway floors would've been a real mess.

[Marsha Dillon]

dee wrote:

yeah they def should've planned it out better. And perm. marker on the dry erase is not funny at all. but the school district definitely needs to drop the charges. Im tired of teens not being able to have any amount of fun... ever without ruining the rest of their lives. think about all of the things their parents did as children.

A harmless prank is one thing, destruction of property
especially property OUR taxes pay for is a whole different ballgame. There's a lot of ways for kids to 'have fun' that's not at the expense of someone else. Clearly, they ain't even smart enough to come up with a clever prank without destroying something, then to read comments like yours that obviously condones such practice as 'kids just having some fun' is astounding. I think their parents should get a hefty fine as well. In fact if more parents had to fork over big bucks for crap their kids get into, a lot of these types of pranks would end.