Friday, March 7, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
A dose of misinformation dispensed during the international media blitz over a 9-year-old boy charged with felony vandalism has prompted Clark County School District and Metro Police to publicly address the issue.
Ray Willis, school district spokesman, said the complications over immediately notifying Barbara Anderson that police had arrived at McMillan Elementary on Jan. 28 to arrest her son Jeremy were ultimately the mother's own fault.
"We require that a card be kept on file for each student where a parent can be notified during school hours," Willis said. "The card that was on file for Jeremy Anderson did not list the mother's current work number. The home number was correct, but no one was home when the school called, so messages were repeatedly left on the answering machine requesting the mother call the school immediately."
Willis said emergency numbers are requested when the child first enrolls, and again at the start of each new school year.
"We have since gotten a current work number for the mother," he said.
Various media accounts have additionally misconstrued what happened when Jeremy was arrested, Willis said.
"A police officer approached the school and requested to take the child into custody," he said. "The boy was escorted out of class to the principal's office. He was not handcuffed or physically detained. Additional measures were taken so classmates wouldn't see what was going on."
Willis said a group of students was at recess when the officer and the boy were preparing to leave, and that teachers "quietly got them to leave the playground and go inside."
"They departed through a rear entrance in an unobtrusive manner so classmates couldn't discern what was going on at (the school's) request."
There are no laws on the books stating where a child can or cannot be arrested. Schools are required by law to release a child to either a bona fide police officer or child welfare personnel for suspected cases of abuse and neglect.
Metro Police Capt. Charles Davidaitis, who heads the detective bureau, concurred with Willis' description of the events, and added that the plain-clothes officer who handled the case also interviewed several juveniles suspected in the case while in the company of McMillan's assistant principal on Dec. 9, almost three weeks after the vandalism estimated at $10,300 was reported.
Jeremy was the only suspect who was not cleared of wrong-doing by the investigator, based on evidence indicating he allegedly acted alone, authorities said.
Also on Dec. 9, Davidaitis said the investigator went to the prime suspect's residence and left a notification card asking the boy's mother to call the investigator regarding the ongoing criminal investigation.
"Approximately three days later, the suspect's mother called the investigator and left a message on his recorder that she would re-call," Davidaitis said. "The suspect's mother never re-called the investigator until approximately two days after her son's arrest" Jan. 28.
The investigative package was reviewed by the district attorney's office and a warrant for Jeremy's arrest was issued Jan. 22 by a Juvenile Court judge.
Richard Plaster, president of Plaster Development, the company that poured the concrete for the public sidewalk and now must replace 1,500 feet of concrete to meet city inspectors' approval, said he asked the district attorney's office Wednesday night to drop the criminal case after receiving threats and having a rock thrown through his window.
Deputy District Attorney Robert Teuton, who handles the juvenile division, said Thursday night that such a decision is not one that Plaster can make, and that the felony charge against Jeremy for defacing the sidewalk has not been dropped.
For a variety of opinions on this case, including letters to the editor and editorial cartoon, see the Las Vegas SUN's opinion page at http://www.lasvegassun.com/sun/opinion/opinion.shtml.
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