Teen to receive outpatient treatment after lockdown at schools

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, April 27, 2022

A Sequim teen who was arrested for threats against other local teens online that led to a brief lockdown of two Sequim schools in March recently agreed to a court-ordered outpatient drug treatment program in lieu of charges.

The 17-year-old was released from Clallam County Juvenile Detention facility on April 21 to his father by order of Judge Simon Barnhart after nearly a month in custody, according to court documents.

Previously, the defendant pleaded not guilty to threats on Snapchat sometime on or before March 23 but agreed to enter an intensive outpatient program following a recommendation from Jim Guthrie, an addiction and substance abuse counselor, documents state. The teen also volunteered to take anger management counseling.

The teen’s progress will be reevaluated in juvenile court on May 26, according to court documents.

Barnhart said the teen must accept the rules of his father’s house and there’s a probability he will enter Juvenile Drug Court, a youth rehabilitation program, at an April 21 hearing.

“I strongly encourage you do everything that’s asked of you,” he said.

The defendant’s father told Barnhart on April 21 he planned to meet with school officials about the defendant reentering school.

Sequim School District officials said they could not comment on student matters because of privacy concerns.

Both deputy prosecuting attorney Tracey Lassus and defense attorney Suzanne Hayden shared sentiment that the defendant entering outpatient treatment was a good opportunity to show seriousness about intervention.

“If (the defendant) doesn’t want a felony on the record, it’s a good incentive,” Hayden said.

Guthrie told Barnhart that the defendant fit criteria for residential treatment but after reviewing treatment history, he recommended outpatient treatment.

“His motivation is more personal than just being ordered to do so,” Guthrie said. “(The defendant) has expressed different motivations to remain abstinent and I would hope he can do that.”

Sequim School District leaders placed Sequim High School and Olympic Peninsula Academy into a modified lockdown for a few hours the morning of March 24 with restrictions lifted shortly after the defendant was arrested, according to Sequim Police Department officials.

Det. Sgt. Darrell Nelson said the lockdown was “out of an abundance of caution.”

Two students interviewed by officer Daniel Martinez the day prior said they received threatening messages due to friendships with another student and his affiliation to a different gang than the defendant, according to Martinez’s Probable Cause statement.

One student said the defendant was allegedly hostile towards him due to his friendship with the student who was previously associated with the defendant’s group of friends, whom he called a gang, but he switched to another one and was beaten up three times over a few months by the defendant and friends, according to court documents. That friend told police he was never made a member of the defendant’s gang, but he later joined another gang, court documents state. However, by fall 2021 he was no longer associated with either group, police report.

A third student shared threatening messages he received from the defendant with police because of his friendship with the other two students, court documents state.

Nelson said police investigations don’t reveal gangs coming from the outside and/or recruiting children from out of the area.

“We’re not saying it can’t morph into something,” Nelson said. “We’re looking at intervention strategies with school counselors and what we can do with the school resource officer program to better relate to these kids.”

Nelson said he understands the fear he’s heard from community members regarding gangs, but that officers don’t believe the escalated behavior was gang-related and instead akin to high school cliques.

“At the same time, I don’t want to sugar-coat (the issue),” he said. “There is a parent component to this that is stoking the fire that this is gang-related.

“We don’t believe these are gang members as we have not seen a tremendous amount of violence but we have taken any violence very seriously. It’s about behavior that’s not acceptable, not gangs.”