Two Stevenson  students arrested in drug investigation

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Updated: March 17, 2012 8:06AM

Lincolnshire police have arrested two juveniles in connection with the alleged sale of drugs at Stevenson High School.

The Lincolnshire Police Department released specifics about the investigation at Stevenson Wednesday.

Police petitioned two boys, both SHS students, into the juvenile system on Tuesday, according to investigator Adam Hyde. The two were allegedly in possession of less than 10 grams of marijuana, according to a police department press release.

Officers arrested a 16-year-old Lincolnshire boy and a 15-year-old Buffalo Grove boy, charging both with delivery of marijuana and conspiracy to deliver marijuana, both misdemeanors.

“At this time, police do not anticipate any further arrests from this investigation,” the report reads.

“The drug transactions were arranged during the school day, however, the investigation revealed drug exchanges took place off school property,” according to police. Hyde wrote in an email Wednesday that he could not specify when or where the sales happened.

Stevenson’s administration conducted its own investigation and handed out its own punishments. School spokesman Jim Conrey would not elaborate on how many students were suspended, but noted that it was more than the two the police arrested. Police said they interviewed between 20 and 30 students, “some of which were witnesses to the drug activity.”

Conrey said the number of suspended Patriots was close to that range.

Conrey said the investigation began in December, when students informed administrators they believed other students were involved in drug distribution. Administrators notified police, then began questioning students.

“There was substantial evidence to suggest that we needed to look at a specific student’s phone,” Conrey said.

Those interviews included the confiscation and searching of students’ mobile phones, where administrators looked through text messages and photos — a power police must have a warrant to exercise. A warrant also binds officers to search strictly for specified evidence, but Conrey said that if administrators, while looking for information about drug sales, had found evidence of unrelated activity that violated school rules, they could have made use of that.

“Certainly, we have the ability to search cell phones without a subpoena,” Conrey said Wednesday. “In that situation, there is some discretion for the school to take action, based on that happenstance.”

Ed Yohnka, director of communication and public policy for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, agreed that schools have that ability — but said he wanted to know more about what they do with the information gathered.

“Where is it that the police function stops and the school function starts?” he asked Feb. 8.

“Schools ought to be very careful about searching the content of a cell phone,” Yohnka added. “This kind of raw dragnet invites them into every part of a student’s life. There’s got to be some limit on that.”

Conrey would not say how many mobile phones the school searched. He would not specify what actions the suspended students were punished for, other than all had violated the school’s policy book.

Hyde said police obtained a warrant for one phone, which they searched sometime in January. He said police were uncertain of where the boys had gotten their supply from.

Yohnka said he would like to hear from some of the suspended students.

“If those records ought to be looked at, they ought to be looked at by the police,” he said.