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Posted on Wed, Jun 2, 2010 : 6 a.m.

Two Huron High School students plead guilty to misdemeanor charges in vandalism of police car

By Amalie Nash

Two of five Huron High School students accused of vandalizing an Ann Arbor police car pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges in exchange for felony charges being dismissed.

Anthony Meneghini and Peter Godfrey, both 17, entered guilty pleas last week in 14A District Court to an added charge of malicious destruction of personal property between $200 and $1,000, said county Chief Deputy Assistant Prosecutor Steve Hiller. In exchange, two felony charges of malicious destruction of police property were dropped.

A total of five teens were charged with damaging the school resource officer's Ford Crown Victoria between 5 p.m. March 5 and 11 a.m. March 6 in the school parking lot. Ann Arbor police said the rear window and tail lights were smashed out with a hammer, a recliner was placed on the roof of the car and feces was poured on the roof.

Investigators identified the teenagers after reviewing surveillance video of cars that were at the school at the time, police said.

Attorney Ellis Freatman, who represented Meneghini and Godfrey, said they were only involved in placing the recliner on the roof, which caused minor damage.

"It became clear from the investigation and the statements that Anthony and Peter did not participate in the destruction," Freatman said. "They were only involved in the original prank to place the recliner on the car."

Under a sentencing agreement with the judge, prosecutors will not object to Meneghini and Godfrey being sentenced under the Holmes Youthful Trainee Act. Under that act, youths ages 17 to 20 who plead guilty to certain crimes can have the records expunged if they successfully complete their sentence.

No jail time will be recommended under the sentencing agreement, Freatman said.

"Their intent was to commit a prank and nothing more," Freatman said. "Frankly, this is difficult and a harsh lesson, and the lesson has been learned."

Meneghini and Godfrey will be sentenced July 2.

The other three 17-year-olds charged - Miles Staton, Stephen Bakarich, and Dillon Pearce - are scheduled to appear for preliminary hearings June 9. They each face two felony charges of malicious destruction of police property.

Comments

TickleMeGreen

Thu, Jun 3, 2010 : 1:02 p.m.

How can you say "In a situation like that I generally think everyone should be equally responsible for the crime of even one person. With some exceptions of course" when you hardly know the facts. Could this not be the case of an "exception"?

geej86

Wed, Jun 2, 2010 : 10:47 p.m.

Unless the two with the attorney were not present during the entire event, I don't see why they should be punished any differently. Is this the difference between having your own attorney and having a public defender? I admit, I hardly know the facts though, so I assume this is not the case. TickleMeGreen, In a situation like that I generally think everyone should be equally responsible for the crime of even one person. With some exceptions of course. With that said, they're young and they did something stupid. As long as it was the first time, and it is the last time - An ideal punishment in my opinion would be to stick 'em with damages, community service, probation, and then allow all charges to be expunged after whatever term. Just my opinion

TickleMeGreen

Wed, Jun 2, 2010 : 8:39 p.m.

and @George Houchens, imagine that you are 17, and are in the front of a car or maybe even driving. Someone in the back, who you may or may not be friends with, decides to wheel down the window and smash a mailbox with a baseball bat. You didn't see it coming it just happened. This is also a felony. Are you going to narc on him at the age of 17? P.S. These Boys did come forward and they admitted their individual roles to their class principal.

TickleMeGreen

Wed, Jun 2, 2010 : 8:29 p.m.

did anyone ever think that maybe it started with putting a chair atop the vehicle and after this was finished, it is possible that some kids went haywire and broke the vehicle

UWM

Wed, Jun 2, 2010 : 3:40 p.m.

@Amalie: And you really believe the lawyer hired to represent those kids when he said they had no involvement with the rest of the "prank" perped on the police car? Please, say it ain't so.

rusty shackelford

Wed, Jun 2, 2010 : 1:21 p.m.

Lawyers always claim their clients are innocent. Oh no, you've discovered the secret!

George Houchens

Wed, Jun 2, 2010 : 12:38 p.m.

Lawyers always claim their clients are innocent. Or at least innocent of the serious charges. These two youths are as guilty as the rest. If they weren't they would have reported the incident. Why give these two young hoodlums a free ride?

UWM

Wed, Jun 2, 2010 : 12:13 p.m.

Smashing a window and pouring feces on a cop car is now a "prank?" Heck, when I was a kid in AA putting a Mickey Mouse face on the clock at Pioneer was a prank, and a darned good on at that. Kids these days have sense of humor or imagination...

a2roots

Wed, Jun 2, 2010 : 10:24 a.m.

In the annals of high school pranks in Ann Arbor this was probably pretty tame until they started busting up the car. That was over the top. If they had stopped with the chair and although awful as it sounds, the feces, we probably would not heard a word about this.

lisasimpson

Wed, Jun 2, 2010 : 10:14 a.m.

I still can't get over the "pouring of feces" in this story.

ronaldduck

Wed, Jun 2, 2010 : 10:06 a.m.

For all you kids reading about how much trouble your friends got into, remember 3 things. #1 Like @48104 said, anything you do that gets your name in the news will show up forever in online searches. That in itself is not a big deal until your future employer finds it and doesn't hire you or a girl you like see's it and decides your not worth the trouble or any of hundreds of other situations where it might hurt you. #2 I'm not being paranoid, video camera's are everywhere. You are being watched all the time. #3 Whatever you do, DON'T film yourself and put it on You Tube.

uawisok

Wed, Jun 2, 2010 : 10 a.m.

"Their intent was to commit a prank and nothing more," Freatman said. "Frankly, this is difficult and a harsh lesson, and the lesson has been learned." What a minute this is hardly a prank, when we did a prank it was soap windows or put for sale signs in the schools front lawn...gheez...I guess "prank" needs to be re defined??

scooter dog

Wed, Jun 2, 2010 : 7:57 a.m.

It used to be that if you were in the same group and someone broke the law and say robbed someone ect,that ALL parties were charged the same,I think its called"guilt by association",but with the lawyers and courts we have now all bets are off.

scooter dog

Wed, Jun 2, 2010 : 7:45 a.m.

Thats why these punks do what they do now days,they know the courts will do nothing so whats to lose.

48104

Wed, Jun 2, 2010 : 7:08 a.m.

"Under a sentencing agreement with the judge, prosecutors will not object to Meneghini and Godfrey being sentenced under the Holmes Youthful Trainee Act. Under that act, youths ages 17 to 20 who plead guilty to certain crimes can have the records expunged if they successfully complete their sentence." However, as long as you Google their names, this story will come up. My cousin had a similarly idiotic escapade in his past, over twenty years ago, on a slow news day in a major market. It was expunged and that was that, until about five years ago when it started appearing in Google results. It may not be on their criminal records, but it will be around and available.