The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
A 17-year-old township youth faces weapon and narcotics charges after he was found with a loaded handgun and drug paraphernalia in Franklin Middle school.
The youth was part of the school district’s “Road to Success” alternative high school program, which is run out of the middle school. The program is geared to help those students having difficulty in high school attain their high school diploma.
Alternative school officials received information at about 3:15 p.m. March 15 that the student was in the school with drugs and a weapon, according to a press release from the Somerset County Prosecutor’s Office.
The alternative school’s administrator called Franklin Township police, who responded to the school with detectives from teh prosecutor’s Major Crimes Unit, according to the release.
Upon arrival, authorities met up with school officials and quickly located the student, who was then taken to police headquarters.
A search warrant was secured for the student’s backpack, and a search revealed a loaded 9 mm semi-automatic handgun and drug paraphernalia.
The student was charged with with 2nd Degree Unlawful Possession of a Weapon, 4th Degree Possession of a Weapon by a Person under the Age of 21, and Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, a disorderly person offense, according to the release.
The youth was taken to the Middlesex County Juvenile Detention Center pending a detention hearing, according to the release.
Prosecutor Michael Robertson said in that the release that the preliminary investigation revealed that there were no known threats to students or faculty.
