Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Three BHS students deny allegations they brought weapons to school

Clara Garcia News-Bulletin Staff Writer; cgarcia@news-bulletin.com

Belen Three Belen High School students arrested on allegations of bringing weapons onto school premises when school officials and police found them in a vehicle with two guns and two knives have entered a denial to the charges.

Alex Apodaca, 17, of Belen, and Troy Williams, 16, of Los Lunas have both been charged with two fourth-degree felony counts of unlawful carrying of a deadly weapon on school premises.

Trevor Butler, 16, of Los Lunas is also facing two counts of unlawful carrying of a deadly weapon on school premises along with one misdemeanor count of possession of drug paraphernalia and one count of selling or giving alcohol to minors, possession of alcoholic beverages by minors.

Apodaca entered a denial to the charges during his first court appearance on March 22. Children's Court Judge William Sanchez released the teen to his mother and ordered that he keep in contact with juvenile probation on a weekly basis. Apodaca was also ordered to adhere to a curfew of 8 p.m. on weekdays and 9 p.m. on weekends.

Both Butler and Williams also entered denials to the charges on Monday in front of Judge Kenneth Brown. Both were released to the custody of their parents but Brown ordered that Butler be available for random urine analysis testing by the juvenile probation office.

The three students were arrested on March 20 when, according to a Belen police report, officers were called to the school by Assistant Principal Richard Tafoya. According to the report, Tafoya had requested security officers check a vehicle, a 1997 black Ford Explorer.

The assistant principal reported that the three students had entered the vehicle and had not left the school grounds. Inside the vehicle, officers allegedly found one shotgun, a BB gun, two knives, a syringe containing a clear liquid, a half-full bottle of Jack Daniels, a glass pipe, 17 shotgun shells, seven CO2 cartridges, 18 .22 caliber bullets, one bottle of BBs and a baseball bat.

The police report said that all three youths stated that they had knowledge of the items inside the vehicle. Apodaca, Butler and Williams were transported to the juvenile detention center in Albuquerque and were released two days later to the custody of their parents.

Belen Schools Superintendent Kenny Griego said the students' parents were notified immediately following the discovery of the weapons in the vehicle.

The three students were not where they were supposed to be, which was in class, and when they were located, a search of the vehicle was conducted, he said.

"It was an isolated incident," Griego said. "The weapons were in their proximity and they were disciplined."

Although Griego could not say what discipline was taken, he could say what the policy of the district is:

In compliance with the federal Gun Free Schools Act, the district's policy states that any student found to be in violation due to possession of a firearm, shall, at a minimum, be expelled from school for a period of not less than one calendar year, provided that the superintendent or the Board of Education may modify such penalty in appropriate cases at their discretion.

Griego noted that this is a hunting community.

When asked if a notification was sent out to other school parents, Griego said no, "only the parents of the students involved in the incident were notified."

"We try to preserve the privacy of the students involved," Griego said. "The consequences they are facing are bad enough and there is a penalty for those mistakes."

Gregory Gaudette, attorney for Alex Apodaca, declined to comment about the pending case.

The same was true for Randy Chavez, attorney for Trevor Butler.

Cindy Mercer, attorney for Troy Williams, said she did not have sufficient information or discovery to make a comment.

E-mail this story Printer-friendly version