The Radnor High School senior who was charged with writing a terroristic threat on a boys' restroom wall waived his preliminary hearing yesterday and will apply for a first-time offender program.
Cameron Plaice, 19, will remain at home on $25,000 unsecured bail and with a home-monitoring ankle bracelet.
School officials said an expulsion hearing had not been scheduled.
The family was "satisfied with the outcome" of yesterday's court appearance, defense lawyer Steven E. Kellis said. Kellis said a psychological examination for Plaice was scheduled for tomorrow.
In a soft voice, the young man answered "yes" when Magisterial District Judge John C. Tuten asked whether he understood the meaning of waiving his preliminary hearing.
Before the hearing, he was more animated in greeting about a dozen of his peers and family members who came to support him. At one point, he lifted his pants leg to show them the ankle bracelet.
Neither Plaice nor his parents had any comment after the proceeding. At its conclusion, Jeanette Plaice, the young man's mother, leaned over and placed her head on the back of the chair in front of her and remained in the courtroom as everyone left.
The Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition program is designed to keep first-time offenders from entering the criminal justice system and is controlled by the District Attorney's Office. Defendants accepted into the program must comply with court-ordered conditions. In return, charges are suspended.
Those conditions can include counseling, community service, probation and restitution, said Joseph J. Brielmann, Delaware County assistant district attorney.
When the program is completed, the defendant is eligible to have the charges dismissed.
"Restitution will be a large part of any resolution in this case," Brielmann said.
On Oct. 6, Plaice admitted to police that he wrote, "It's people like you, that make people like me bring guns to school, to hug people like you" on the wall of a restroom stall.
The discovery of the statements in the bathroom prompted officials to close the high school for one day and take special security precautions, including searching students with a hand-held metal detector.
Plaice was arrested and held on $25,000 cash bail and ordered to undergo a psychiatric examination. He spent 12 days in Delaware County Prison before the exam was completed and the bail was changed.
Radnor High School parents and community members pledged $37,000 to help with Plaice's bail.
Some students said they believed the message Plaice wrote was in response to racial and anti-Semitic words and symbols previously written on the walls.
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