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Sentencing was delayed for the ninth of 10 participants. Another was sentenced to probation and 600 hours of community service.
By CHASE SQUIRES
© St. Petersburg Times, published April 26, 2001
DADE CITY -- The ninth of 10 youths charged with ransacking Wesley Chapel's Sand Pine Elementary School last year pleaded no contest to all four criminal charges in front of Circuit Judge Lynn Tepper on Wednesday, the day he was to go to trial.
That leaves one suspect, whose trial is set for June.
Tepper said that immediately after the trial, she will start doling out the bills for the rampage. With more than $100,000 in damage reported at the school, it will be up to Tepper to decide who should pay for what.
The ninth child to resolve his case, a 14-year-old boy, was charged with burglary, criminal mischief, grand theft and theft of a golf cart. He has been attending a Pasco County alternative school since his arrest in the Labor Day weekend spree.
He told the judge he was swept up in the group mentality as 10 teens smashed their way through the school.
Investigators say the group smashed televisions, stole computers, broke windows, ruined school cafeteria food and shuttled stolen loot to one boy's home on a stolen golf cart.
"I'm sorry for doing that," the 14-year-old told the judge. "I didn't mean to . . . I was trying to stop, but, everybody -- I just wanted to stay with my friends."
The youths have not been identified by the Times because of their ages.
The boy's attorney, Adrian Castro, told Tepper his client took part in only one of the two nights of damage.
Tepper delayed sentencing until the state prepares a recommendation. The teen was allowed to return home with his mother.
Also on Wednesday, Tepper sentenced the one girl who took part in the rampage to 600 hours of community service and placed her on probation until she is 19. The girl will also have her DNA recorded in a state databank of burglars.
Tepper also ordered the 15-year-old -- convicted of burglary and theft -- to watch the film Schindler's List, a movie about one man's struggle to save Jews during the Nazi Holocaust. After viewing the film, Tepper wants the girl to write a research paper about courage in the face of a mob.
The girl's mother, Kathy Guertin, told Tepper that life has been a challenge since the break-in.
"It has changed all of our lives," Guertin said. "People that were friends of mine won't even talk to me anymore."
Some parents, she said, won't let their children associate with her daughter.
The girl's attorney, Carol Rodriguez, told Tepper her client only participated in one of the two break-ins and played a minor role.
School principal Ginny Yanson said she didn't want the girl jailed, but said she was stung by the rampage. The damage forced many teachers to spend time to repair the school, and it frightened younger students. Some have required therapy, she said.
"I'm still mad at you. I forgive you, but I'm still mad at you," Yanson told the girl. "This has had an impact on so many people."
Prosecutor Eric Rosario told Tepper the girl was seen joking with her cohorts after they were discovered, and she was pictured on a videotape the children made of themselves watching televised news reports of the incident.
The girl, weeping often into a tissue during sentencing, said she had learned from the incident.
"I do believe that I have changed," she said. "I'm not the same kind of person that I was . . . I love my parents. I just really respect them now that I have gone through what I have gone through."
'I guess you understand what unconditional love means," Tepper said. "They didn't abandon you."