Update with more information:
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AURORA — A 12-year-old Aurora boy arrested after bringing powdered sugar to school was charged with a misdemeanor — not a felony — count of possession of a look-alike substance, Aurora police said Saturday.
The sixth-grade student at Waldo Middle School, who is not identified because he is a minor, was charged Wednesday
after telling a classmate that a bag of powdered sugar was crack cocaine and inviting him to a bathroom to ingest it, according to preliminary findings police released on Saturday.
When a custodian walked into the bathroom, he witnessed the two boys with a suspicious package and took them to the office where school administrators and the Aurora Police School Resource Officer began their investigation, police said.
During the investigation, the boy admitted that the day before the arrest, he told the classmate that he would be bringing crack cocaine to school, police said.
However, the boy's mother said Saturday her son maintains the incident was a joke.
The parents were not present for the interview with school officials, though the school attempted to contact the boy's family using an emergency contact card, police spokesman Dan Ferrelli said.
The boy, who was taken to the Aurora Police Department, was charged by the school resource officer and referred to Kane County Juvenile Court Services, Ferrelli added.
"The only reason we brought him back to the station was so that we could release him to his parents," Ferrelli said.
According to the boy, he brought the substance to school as part of a science experiment in which he was investigating why regular sugar sinks in water and powdered sugar floats, his mother said. His mother added that the boy was carrying the bag in his shoe at one point because he "thought it would be funny to play around."
The boy was suspended from school for two weeks.
On Friday, the Aurora Police Department referred questions on the status of the boy's case to Juvenile Court Services.
Juvenile Court Services, however, does not release specifics on individual cases, though Deputy Director Jeffrey Jefko said Friday that possession of a look-alike substance could be charged as a felony, carrying a penalty of up to five years' probation.
The 12-year-old in this case was only charged with a misdemeanor, Aurora police confirmed Saturday.
http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/beaconnews/city/2_1_AU12_KIDARREST_S1.htm
