Dec. 10--A Lake County judge declined to reduce the bail of a 17-year-old Stevenson High School junior who was accused of bringing a gun to school in his backpack last week.
Lamont Glenn, of Buffalo Grove, is charged as an adult with unlawful use of a weapon, possession of a firearm and not having a firearm owner's identification card. Judge Christen Bishop set his bail at $50,000 Monday.
During a Thursday afternoon hearing in Lake County Circuit Court, Glenn's attorney requested a lower bail, noting the gun was not loaded.
"He's not done jail before," defense attorney Thomas Meyers said. "He's a young kid, in high school, in jail."
Glenn has no criminal record, Meyers said, and his family is working on arranging a way for him to attend school without going back to Stevenson.
But a prosecutor said investigators who looked at Glenn's phone found text messages that appear to show the teen discussing buying and selling controlled substances and robbing a drug dealer.
In other messages Glenn talked about returning to San Diego, where he previously lived. Prosecutors said that indicates he might flee to California.
Meyers urged skepticism about "vague" messages referencing drug sales, citing Glenn's lack of a criminal record.
Bishop declined to reduce Glenn's bail, saying she took the fact that the gun was not loaded into account at the hearing Monday.
"He does not have any background, but I have to weigh that against the seriousness of the offense," she said.
Bishop said she's open to reconsidering Glenn's bail if his family can provide more details about the alternative educational arrangements, including the supervision they would provide.
Days before Glenn's arrest, Barrington High School student Kyle Johnson allegedly brought a gun and bullets to school, police said. Bishop reduced Johnson's bond after learning his family intended to send him to a residential treatment program.
Glenn is being held in the Hulse Detention Center at the Depke Juvenile Justice Complex in Vernon Hills. If convicted of the possession of a weapon charge, he could receive a sentence of up to five years in prison.
Prosecutors said Lincolnshire police and Stevenson administrators learned Glenn had a gun at school from other students, at least one of whom claimed he had brought it the day before as well.
Police said a .38-caliber chrome revolver was found in his backpack with no bullets.
School spokesman Jim Conrey said he couldn't discuss specific details of disciplinary consequences due to student privacy concerns.
"We have two main goals: to make sure our students are as safe as possible, and to make sure the student does not come back to campus," he said.
A student found in possession of a weapon can be recommended for expulsion, a decision that would ultimately be up to the school board, but there has not yet been a request for an expulsion hearing, Conrey said.
lzumbach@tribpub.com
