A 13-year-old student was caught with marijuana at Cougar Mountain Middle School in Graham last week, leading to the arrest of his brother the same day on suspicion of having weapons and pot at another school in the Bethel School District.
According to the Pierce County Sheriff Department, the incidents on Nov. 7 started when students at Cougar Mountain told a school security officer that a classmate's backpack smelled strongly of marijuana.
Paraphernalia containing marijuana was found in the backpack. When a Sheriff Department deputy asked the 13-year-old student about it, he said his older brother, a sstudent at Bethel High School, put the pot there without his knowledge. He also said his brother was a heavy smoker of marijuana.
After the Cougar Mountain student was arrested for being in possession of marijuana and was released to his parents, deputies went to the high school to talk to his brother. Authorities gave this account of what happened next:
When a Bethel High admiinstrator removed the 15-year-old from class and took him to the school security office, the youth refused to allow himself to be searched and refused to give the staff his backpack. The school staff repeatedly attempted to contact the student’s parents to advise them of the issue.
While the student was being held in the security office, another student told the school security staff that the student being held in the office was known to frequently carry a gun and had reportedly showed it off to other students.
A sheriff deputy, believing the detained student might have a gun, told the school staff to leave the room. The officer then had him keep his hands in his lap and stay seated, and asked him if he would let the deputy search him. The student refused.
When the deputy asked the student if he had a weapon on him, the student looked at the deputy and nodded his head yes.
The deputy handcuffed the student before finding a a .380 semi-automatic handgun in the pocket of the student’s gym shorts, which he was wearing underneath sweatpants. The gun wasn't loaded with ammunition, and none was found in the student's backpack.
The deputy also found a folding knife in another of the boy's pockets, and a search of the backpack turned up a digital scale, baggies, 11 grams of marijuana, and $105 in cash.
The boy was arrested on suspicion of unlawful possession of a firearm and unlawful possession and dealing of marijuana. His parents were notified and he was booked into Remann Hall, the county's juvenile detention facility.
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