Boy charged with felony for carrying sugar

suntimes ^ | February 11, 2006

[Revel]

Boy charged with felony for carrying sugar

BY JUSTINA WANG A 12-year-old Aurora boy who said he brought powdered sugar to school for a science project this week has been charged with a felony for possessing a look-alike drug, Aurora police have confirmed.

The sixth-grade student at Waldo Middle School was also suspended for two weeks from school after showing the bag of powdered sugar to his friends.

The boy, who is not being identified because he is a juvenile, said he brought the bag to school to ask his science teacher if he could run an experiment using sugar.

Two other boys asked if the bag contained cocaine after he showed it to them in the bathroom Wednesday morning, the boy's mother said.

He joked that it was cocaine, before telling them, "just kidding," she said.

Aurora police arrested the boy after a custodian at the school reported the boy's comments. The youngster was taken to the police station and detained, before being released to his parents that afternoon.

"This is getting ridiculous," said the boy's mother. "They treated my son like a criminal. .. . This is no way to treat a 12-year-old kid."

East Aurora School District officials declined to comment on the case, citing privacy issues.

The district issued a written statement, which said: "The dangers of illegal drugs and controlled substances are clear.

Could get probation "Look-alike drugs and substances can cause that same level of danger because staff and students are not equipped to differentiate between the two."

The school handbook states that students can be suspended or expelled for carrying a look-alike drug.

Penalties for juveniles are decided on a case-by-case basis, but if convicted, the sixth-grader could likely face up to five years' probation, said Jeffery Jefko, deputy director of Kane County juvenile court services.

Juveniles who have prior criminal records could also be placed in a residential treatment program if convicted, he said.

Aurora Beacon-News

[1rudeboy]

What part of "He was not selling it" don't you understand?

LOL. What part of the Illinois Criminal Statutes do you not understand? How about in loco parentis? Did you get your law degree by mail?

[Know your rights]

"don't attempt to portray these as drugs"

"He joked that it was cocaine, before telling them, 'just kidding'". No such portrayal there.

[SoftballMominVA]

It was priceless. Of course, my principal turned about 3 shades of red and about blew a gasket.

I'll be seeking employement elsewhere in the county next year.

[muawiyah]

So far I have revealed absolutely nothing to you concerning any direct personal knowledge I might have of cocaine. On the other hand, I am familiar with sugar.

[Tired of Taxes]

I'm just reading this story now, and it sounds crazy, but I can understand how it might've played out:

Based on the story, I don't believe the kid was really bringing sugar into school for a science experiment. Do any of you? I remember kids in school selling bags of oregano or sometimes grass (from the ground) to other kids as "pot". This boy might've been trying to pass sugar off as cocaine and sell it to some unsuspecting kids. If so, yes, charging him with a felony is way too severe, but I could see how some form of punishment like suspension should be issued. (Flame away). :-)

[muawiyah]

Probably, but that's irrelevant. The kerosene residue from the manufacturing process, and possibly the sulphuric acid would give it away. By reputation it has a "bitter" taste.

Odds are good that you'd know the substance was not sugar.

[muawiyah]

The kids's not yet old enough to provide sworn testimony in a court of law.

So, who ya' gonna' believe, the school officials?

All they've got on the kid is hearsay. And if you check out the "evidence", it's just sugar.

Sounds like the kid is guilty of telling lies, but this case is going nowhere.

[sweetliberty]

"The school handbook states that students can be suspended or expelled for carrying a look-alike drug."

At exactly what point did sugar become classified as a drug?

[Calpernia]

>>>Based on the story, I don't believe the kid was really bringing sugar into school for a science experiment. Do any of you? I remember kids in school selling bags of oregano or sometimes grass (from the ground) to other kids as "pot".

No flames. That is a valid point. And we honestly don't know.

But I can't help but think of the wording from the Mandatory School Lunch program. That is why my thoughts went that way.

[1rudeboy]

At exactly what point did sugar become classified as a drug?

When it was represented as such.

[Old Student]

"So far I have revealed absolutely nothing to you concerning any direct personal knowledge I might have of cocaine. On the other hand, I am familiar with sugar."

And my point was and is that you were being ridiculous in expecting teachers or administrators to be able to know the difference between cocaine and sugar. Likewise, that you were being absolutely foolish in suggesting that tasting a suspected drug was a good way to identify it. You were wrong, on both counts. Can you admit that?

You want to flame the cops and the DA for having the kid charged, I could understand that, and maybe even support you in it, but blaming everything on the teachers and administrators at his school is just plain wrong.

[muawiyah]

Did I flame the cops?

I thought I'd flamed the teachers and school administrators for taking the uncooborated word of a minor concerning the nature of a substance he'd brought to school.

In the end the cops are the ones who exonerated the kid by determining that the sugar he'd brought was, in fact, sugar.

[Know your rights]

When it was represented as such.

It wasn't. "He joked that it was cocaine, before telling them, 'just kidding'".

[Old Student]

"Did I flame the cops?

I thought I'd flamed the teachers and school administrators for taking the uncooborated word of a minor concerning the nature of a substance he'd brought to school.

In the end the cops are the ones who exonerated the kid by determining that the sugar he'd brought was, in fact, sugar."

I think you misread the article. The teachers and administrators did not take the kid's unsupported word; they'd had someone (a janitor) overhear him describing it as cocaine. The janitor reported it to the administrator, who in turn called the cops. The cops then arrested the kid, charging him with a violation of the law. The cops tested the substance, and found that it was sugar, but under the law, he is charged with a felony. Since he is charged with violating the law, he is now suspended by the administrator, as required by law. It's obvious that the teachers and administrators are all idiots who don't know how to do their jobs...and that you don't read very carefully.

Just FYI, teachers and school administrators have no more in the way of police powers (and no less) than any other citizen. I suggested you might want to flame the cops, not that you had, and you went off on a tangent again.

[muawiyah]

That's exactly what I said ~ the kid told the janitor, and he told the administrators, and they called the cops.

Now unless the janitor lied about what the kid said, all the administrators knew when they called the cops was that a kid said something.

This is the uncooborated word of a minor, or possibly even no word at all!

[muawiyah]

BTW, the teachers and school administrators may well be in a state that REQUIRES them to report evidence of child abuse. That makes them "cops" to a degree. The administrator undoubtedly has authority to "detain" children, so he's definitely a "cop".

No, I see no reason to flame the cops so far, but I'd get those particular administrators and teachers out of the schools Fur Shur.

[SoftballMominVA]

Tossing my 2 cents in here too. I haven't a clue what cocaine looks like. I guess if you had sugar and cocaine next to it, you could put a finger in each to taste a bit, but I'm not sticking my fingers in something I don't know what it is.

I have a hunch there is a bit more to the story. It's easy to toss barbs at the school because it's basically defenseless. The school cannot release any information about this incident because it involves a minor. The mom can spread her own story all she wants because she is not bound by the same law. This mom could be making up so much stuff here and we have no way of knowing. It is her word that the kid brought the sugar for an experiment. I don't' trust some random person I don't know to tell me the truth.

However, as would be typical, if something happens with a school about 75% of the people here automatically come down against the school no matter what. I try to step back and look at situations rationally. There are always 2 or 3 or 4 sides to every story.

[tioga]

Look alike drug? Sugar is a food, not a drug. It's illegal to bring food to school? These people are nuts.

[SoftballMominVA]

I am in a state that requires that I report suspected child abuse. In fact, I just finished my training this week. Nothing was said about detaining a child. In fact, just the opposite. Children who are suspected to have been abused should be handled with kid gloves so as not to escalate any problems.

[sweetliberty]

"When it was represented as such."

By that logic, a person could get charged with DWI for claiming to have rum in his coke when he doesn't. Teenagers are brats and they do bratty things. Obnoxious and foolish, yes. Criminal; hardly.