THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Saturday, November 2, 1996            TAG: 9611020266
SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY MIKE MATHER, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   42 lines

BOY STARTED WITH CANDY, ENDED IN DETENTION HOME

A 12-year-old Princess Anne Middle School student stole a classmate's Halloween candy early Friday and then embarked on a one-kid crime wave that ended when a judge threw the fifth-grader into a juvenile detention facility, police said.

By Friday afternoon, the student had been charged with punching his classmate, stealing from the assistant principal, carrying a concealed weapon, and threatening to bomb the school.

``This is a sad state of affairs,'' police spokesman Lou Thurston said. ``Here's a nice guy, offering some candy to a classmate, and then the classmate steals all the candy from him. When the nice guy tells the bus driver, the nice guy gets assaulted.''

The events began around 8 a.m. on the school bus, Thurston said. Here is what he said happened:

The unruly student was offered a piece of the Halloween candy by his classmate but swiped the whole bag instead. When the classmate complained to the bus driver, the candy thief punched the classmate.

The bus pulled up to the school and the thief dashed out. The assistant principal chased him down.

Then, the assistant principal called for the police officer assigned to patrol the middle school.

While the assistant principal and the officer were talking about what to do with the student, he rifled through the assistant principal's desk. He stole a utility-type pocket knife and some office materials.

The officer arrested him. On the way out of the school, the boy threatened to blow up the building.

A search of his backpack turned up the stolen pocket knife and a steak knife, and police found a cap pistol in his shirt pocket.

The student, whose name was withheld because of his age, was charged with assault, larceny, carrying a concealed weapon and threatening to bomb a building. He wasn't charged with bringing a gun to school because the cap pistol doesn't qualify as a firearm under the state code, Thurston said.

A juvenile-court judge sent the boy to the Tidewater Detention Home.

KEYWORDS: JUVENILE DELINQUENT ASSAULT VIRGINIA BEACH SCHOOLS by CNB