PORT ANGELES — A 16-year-old boy pleaded not guilty to three gun-related charges Thursday in Clallam County Juvenile Court.
Judge Christopher Melly set Feb. 2 for a fact-finding hearing and possible trial for the Port Angeles High School junior, who has since been expelled. The student is not named because he is a juvenile.
The teenager, who was arrested about noon Jan. 6 without incident after allegedly bringing an unloaded .32-caliber handgun and a clip loaded with a bullet to school, remained incarcerated in the Clallam County juvenile detention facility on $100,000 bail.
He has been charged with first-degree theft, theft of a firearm and second-degree unlawful possession of a firearm, all felonies, and possession of a firearm on school premises, a misdemeanor, in connection with the gun.
He also pleaded not guilty Thursday to the theft charge.
Additional charges against him for minor in possession, residential burglary and third-degree theft already had been filed against him that are unrelated to the gun incident, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Tracey Lassus said Thursday.
Melly would not release the boy to his sister and mother despite their pledge to provide 24-hour supervision and their efforts to re-enroll him in Sequim High School after his expulsion from Port Angeles High School.
“The court certainly has concerns with regard to community safety, especially in light of the fact that this last charge involves a firearm,” Melly said.
According to charging documents, the boy was arrested at about noon Jan. 6 without incident after his classmate gave a teacher the clip that the classmate said the boy had given to him and had also shown him the gun.
That led to school authorities and a Port Angeles police school resource officer finding the gun in the 16-year-old’s backpack with a change of clothes while he was in a classroom.
He admitted he brought the gun to school, Resource Officer Sky Sexton said in the arrest report.
“He said he brought it because he thought it was cool,” Sexton said in an earlier interview.
His mother and sister addressed Melly in the juvenile court courtroom while they sat at a table about a foot away from the boy.
“It’s really important that he get some counseling and that he be evaluated for whatever’s going on,” his mother said.
The teenager, who was represented by Suzanne Hayden of Clallam Public Defender, “is a very, very smart kid, very intelligent,” his sister said.
“It’s like a cycle,” she said. “He met some friends that were bad influences on him.
“He had some problems with people at school not getting along.”
She had a handwritten letter for her brother that she brought to court.
“We miss you,” she said before they led him back to his cell at the juvenile facility.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 55650, or at pgottlieb@ peninsuladailynews.com.