Student Arrested After Showing Up to School in Body Armor, Cops Later Find Weapons Ca

Given the number of school shootings recently, I'm surprised more parents aren't sending their kids to school with body armor underneath their shirts.

To quote that brilliant mind of the last century -- Forrest Gump -- Stupid is as stupid does.

If the kid had simply said the vest was for his own protection "in case" of a school shooting, then that might have been the end of it (aside from "go home and take it off"). But mouthing off to cops about how much ammo you consume every week is pretty stupid.

The real question will be if the search warrant was obtained through valid reasons and testimony.
 
It must be remembered that the only thing warrants do is decide how much of certain evidence can be used IN COURT. It's probably a moot point since it's hard to imagine a case like this actually ending up in court.
 
justme said:
It's all about mindset. What is the purpose of camo? I think it is fair to say that camo is meant to make you less visible, usually in a situation that involves trying to kill something, or trying not to be killed yourself.
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In this case, I think your mindset is incorrect.

Go to some of the discount stores, a GAP or Miller's Outpost store sometime and you'll see some camo patterns on ladies pants and tops. And not all of these tops cover the entire torso (i.e. midriff tops). One can't argue it's for "blending in" when wearing a midriff top and low-cut camo pants with bell bottoms. :rolleyes:

As to body armor, if it's a concealable type, worn underneath clothing, how is that disruptive to classes? Obviously body armor worn external to clothing is distracting, gaudy, tasteless and tacky and might be disruptive. But perhaps he's making a political statement against the so-called gun-free zones. If we allow Che Guevara t-shirts and "Buck Fush" shirts, why not body armor?
 
I may be mistaken

Did not Rosie O'Donell have her children in "bullet proof " vests at school. and an aremed escort on school property??? Different strokes I guess.
 
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People, read the updated report I posted...

During one practice session, the target is a Ledger newspaper box. The video also shows the detonation of an explosive device, which was determined to have happened just off Winter Lake Road in south Lakeland, Smith said.
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I wold be willing to bet this is not his first brush with the law and there was clearly more going on than simple target practice... The original report did a horrible job of coverring the details.
 
Newberry's father, Mark McNeill, had turned over to Lakeland police firearms that belonged to Newberry.
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Sounds like Newberry's father, (Step-father?), probably the actual home owner, cooperated with police when they showed up at the house. There would be no need for a search warrant, and whatever evidence found would then be admissable.

With the subsequent reporting, this kid sounds like a time bomb waiting for something to set him off. However, this is just guess work on my part.

The reporting on this story is some of the worst I've ever seen. It leaves so many obvious questions unanswered.
 
Clarification, I dont remember anyone saying he was wearing camo colored clothing to school. The camo issue was raised by Justme, and I asked him what is wrong with camo colored clothing.


As to the issue of the intent of camo clothing in school, a lot of kids just wear it because it looks cool:cool:, not with the intent of blending in, in fact just the opposite, they wear it to stand out, or if everyone else is wearing it to fit in and blend into the crowd.

Most schools I have been in wearing tiger striped cammie pants does not add anything to the blending in factor. Unless they are going to school in Guatemala where they have classes outside in the jungle.
 
Yes and no. The camo issue is more a collaterial issue I raised to more or less include the whole general concept of inappropriate attire at school. Many argue that clothing is just one way of expressing yourself and is actually protected under the 1st amendment because of that. However, 1st amendment rights are not absolute anywhere and can be even more restricted in an educational environment.

I guess what I was trying to say, in my clumbsy round about way, is that clothing communicates something about the wearer. Camo or body armor communicates certain things about the wearer that in a school setting may be cause for concern.

If a girl wears a mossy oak halter top she is simply communicating that she may well be a trailer court slut, if a 17 year old with an attitude problem and known tendency toward violence shows up in full battle dress that communicates something very different.

We get into problems when we aren't allowed to read between the lines. That's why we have to have actual human beings in positions of leadership who can make decisions based on all the little nuances that only someone who spends a lot of time at a given school can understand.
 
Timeline...

If I am reading the information right, the kid was questioned Oct 3, for wearing the vest, then a week later (Oct 10) they search his home. And then, 5 days later (10/15) they arrest him.

Is this the normal pattern of law enforcement in this locale? And while there are tremendous gaps in the factual reporting, some things stand out.

Substances that appear to be illegal drugs? Is this legal-speak for "we haven't charged him yet, because we want him to cop a plea", or does it mean "we don't know what these things are"?

The conspiracy nut in the back says "could these "substances" have been planted by corrupt authorities?", just so they have some kind of charge?

And then there is the video tape. OK, you don't have it all together if you tape yourself (and friends) doing illegal things, so they may have something there. The "explosive device" on the tape would be a very bad thing, if it is indeed an actual explosive device. If, on the other hand it is a propane cylinder inside something that explodes when shot by an AK round, that is something else entirely.

All in all, we just don't know enough of the details to form anything more than an opinion. But something is not being told, or so it would seem.

And as far as camo clothing in schools, I got news for you, camo is currently in style as fashion. Some of it even comes in colors that do the exact opposite from "blend in". I don't think camo is "distracting to the learning process". Recalling my own high school days (long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away) there is little that is more distracting to the learning process of teen age boys than good looking teen age girls wearing halter tops and hip-hugger bell bottoms (unless you replace the hip-huggers with mini-skirts!)!!:rolleyes: And don't even get started on "schoolgirl uniforms".

The only way you are not going to have students "distracted" by the opposite sex while in school is to segregate the schools by sex. And even then there will be problems, just not the same ones, or with the same frequency.
 
I'd just like to chime in on the camo issue...

I like wearing some BDU pants I got from a local store that sells surplus military stuff.
I wear them because I find them incredibly comfortable. Warm when it's cold and cool when it's warm.

I do, however, think about what I'm going to be doing them when I wear them and generally only do so when I'm just relaxing or not going to libraries, government buildings and such.

In fact, I'm wearing camo pants right now!
 
Weapons Suspect Faces Porn Charges

By Eva Kis
the ledger
LAKELAND | A young Lakeland man arrested on several weapons charges last month faces new counts of child pornography.

Shawn Keiffer Newberry, 18, has been in the Polk County Jail in lieu of $605,000 bail since Oct. 15, charged with armed trespassing, possession of a weapon on school property, grand theft and criminal mischief.

After Lakeland Police Department forensic investigators reviewed a computer seized during a search of his home Oct. 10, the State Attorney's Office on Thursday filed 26 counts of possession of child pornography.

LPD's Cyber Crimes unit also found several photos that investigators say depict the University of South Florida/Polk Community College campus, including hallways and exterior views. Newberry attended Life Skills Center at 407 E. Memorial Blvd. for less than a week before his arrest.

Those photos are not part of the charges against him.

Newberry was never a student at USF or Polk Community College, said LPD spokesman Jack Gillen.

"We don't have any knowledge that there were any kind of plots" against the college, Gillen said.

Newberry was first arrested Oct. 6 after police say they found a can of Clear Out, a tear gaslike, nonlethal chemical, in his car on the property of Life Skills Center, where he was in a ninth-grade program. He was charged with possession of a weapon on school property and released on bail. He was arrested again Oct. 15 on new charges after his home was searched.

During a warrant search of his home at 2108 Selkirk Lane N., police confiscated several items, including numerous rounds of ammunition and video recordings of Newberry and four others using AK-47 assault rifles in apparent target practice sessions, once on a Ledger newspaper box. His ex-stepfather, Mark McNeill, this year had given police four AK-47s that belonged to Newberry, before Newberry's arrest.
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AND !!!

Jailed Teen's Father Arrested on Drug charges

By Eric Pera
The Ledger
LAKELAND - The father of Shawn Newberry, the Lakeland teenager jailed on charges of weapons possession, has been arrested on drug charges.

Jessie Vaughn Newberry, 44, of Lakeland, was arrested late Thursday night for possession of cocaine and marijuana and intent to sell marijuana within 1,000 feet of a school, police said.

The charges stem from the Oct. 10 police search of Newberry's home, which he shares with his 18-year-old son. The search was conducted as part of an investigation of the younger Newberry, arrested Oct. 6 after police say he wore a bullet proof vest to school.
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AND!!!


Father, Son Facing Charges

Prosecutors: Child porn found on computer, drugs found in home.

By Dana Willhoit
The Ledger
BARTOW | Lakeland resident Shawn Newberry, 18, was back before a judge Friday, this time facing charges of child pornography, and he had his father, Jessie Vaughn Newberry, with him.

His father wasn't there to offer moral support, however.

He was there for a first appearance hearing because he had been arrested late Thursday night for possession of cocaine and marijuana and intent to sell marijuana within 1,000 feet of a school, police said.

Shawn Newberry previously was arrested Oct. 15 after police say he wore a bulletproof vest to school.

Further investigation led to charges of criminal mischief, grand theft and armed trespassing.

When police searched the home where Newberry lived, 2108 Selkirk Lane N., police found numerous rounds of ammunition of different calibers and a video camera that showed Newberry and three other young men and a woman who appear to be doing target practice with an AK-47.

Lakeland police reviewed a computer seized when they searched Newberry's home, and allegedly found child pornography on the computer, which led to the new charges, according to the State Attorney's Office.

Newberry was charged with 26 counts of possession of child pornography.

According to the State Attorney's Office, the boys and girls in the pictures appeared to be between the ages of 3 and 9.

At the video first appearance hearing Friday, public defender Richard Blank told Polk County Circuit Judge Robert Williams that Newberry was waiving his right to hear the judge read aloud the new charges against him.

When Williams started to discuss setting bail for the charges, Blank spoke up again, reminding the judge that Newberry did not want the charges read out loud.

Williams asked Newberry if he was currently employed. Newberry replied, "I'm quite confident I'm no longer employed." Newberry said that he had worked at Pizza Hut, from about 5 p.m. to midnight most nights.

Williams said that if Newberry were able to post bail, he would be on a curfew starting at 12:30 a.m., that he would need to surrender any computers in his possession, and that he could not associate with minors or possess any firearms.

He set Newberry's bail on the new charges at $10,000 for each count, for a total of $260,000. Newberry is being held on $605,000 bail for his previous charges.

Jessie Newberry's bail was set at $7,000.

Williams said that if he were to make bail, he would need to submit to drug testing and report to pretrial services twice a week.

Williams ordered that a public defender be appointed for Jessie Newberry, who said he earned only $640 a month. He didn't mention the source of the income.
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Only in Polk County!

Family Gathering?
 
DAMN!
I guess the next news release will be the tally-ban training tapes...
That kid is gonna get hammered
 
Okay, so the father and son don't appear to be fine upstanding 2nd amendment patriots. Got it. However, was the original arrest actually warranted? How was the vest probable cause as it seemed to be what started everything?
 
I wonder.....

How long before they also find counterfit money and a detailed written plan to overthrow the US govt???

FYI, in some places (like a court room) the standard, classic, naked baby butt on the fur rug pictures are considered "child pornography". At least enough for charges to be brought, and property to be siezed. Just nudity, without any sexual content has brought trouble for many people in our country over the last few years. Isn't it curious that the same kind of folks who give condoms to pre-teens want to throw you in jail and lose the key for having a picture of a baby/toddler without a diaper?

OK, now the father and son here are, apparently idiots, and not the kind of folks we would voluntarily associate with. BUT, things here seem to have piled on pretty heavily. I wonder what else might be "found" to make them look even worse in the press (if that is possible).
 
Isn't it curious that the same kind of folks who give condoms to pre-teens want to throw you in jail and lose the key for having a picture of a baby/toddler without a diaper?
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Actually, it's usually the demographic that opposes condoms (or even the mention of the word "sex" in school) that also pushes for obscenity laws and stricter anti-pornography laws...although I'm sure that some Liberals do that as well. It's just that there's a huge overlap among the "don't talk about sex" and the "any form of nudity is obscene" groups.
 
I can't remember the website because it has been defunct for quite awhile, but there was a site that was shut down here awhile back, and they used the "possession and distribution of porn" charge to shut him down. Polk County does a lot of that.

The story went like this:

There was a guy who ran a website that was restricted to adults only. He was based in Polk County, but the servers were in another country (Finland, I believe) The site was not a porn (although there was some amateur stuff there) site, but odd pictures were on it. In order to get access to the content, one had to let him charge $1 to your credit card, to prove you were of legal age.

The problem was that military personnel in the mid east could not use credit cards to access the site from the mid east because the credit card companies are not allowed to run charges from companies on the Muslim "no-no" list. So, if you could send this guy a picture from Iraq, he would let you access the site for free. The deal expanded to include women who sent in nudes of themselves also getting free access.

Well, pictures started coming out that were, shall we say, embarrassing to the US military. It is my understanding that this site had some of the first pictures from Abu Ghraib. The Polk Sheriff prosecuted him for 163 counts possession and distribution of pornography, and racketeering. He signed a plea deal that prohibited him from hosting or running any web site for 10 years.

To this day I think that the Porn charge was an easy way to shut him up. I also think it is possible that is what is happening here.
 
My son is an avid shooter as is my husband and my self and my two teen daughters, but just as i will not allow my daughters to go to school in something trashy i see no need to allow my son to use his safety clothing in school that is not it's intent nor can it benefit him in his education kids go to school to learn history, math and such self defense, self respect and good old fashion judgment should be taught at home. Something that obviously did not happen in this case!! Drugs and guns don't mix unless you deserve to be where they are now in jail. Don't blame the boy for his parents mistakes where in the world is his mother? Nothing wrong with camo or any other protective gear, got it all, time and place for everything. Worst part we are just about to move a county away and i believe this puts good kids like my son who, does own his own collection that we started, in a really bad light and will soon be the reason he can not use and enjoy them. These people deserve to be in jail!! sorry
 
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