By Karen Testa, The Associated Press
PLYMOUTH, Mass. (AP) -- A high school student whose tip about a planned Columbine-style massacre landed his friend in jail was arrested Monday and charged with being a conspirator in the alleged plot.
Joseph T. Nee, 18, a senior at Marshfield High School whose father heads the main Boston police union, pleaded innocent in Plymouth District Court to charges of conspiracy to commit mass murder and promotion of anarchy. He was ordered held without bail pending a hearing Thursday to determine if he’s a danger to the community.
Nee’s tip to police had led to the Sept. 17 arrest of his friend, 16-year-old Tobin Kerns.
Acting on information from Nee and two other unnamed witnesses, police said they uncovered evidence of a plan to carry out an attack that would coincide with the sixth anniversary of the Columbine shootings on April 20, 2005, and that students, teachers, police officers and firefighters were identified as targets.
Further investigation revealed that Nee was part of the alleged plot and that he understated his role to police, Assistant District Attorney John McLaughlin said at Nee’s arraignment.
“There is physical evidence here of more than just a high school kid looking to get back at the people who tormented him,” McLaughlin said.
Nee was arrested at Marshfield High around 7 a.m. and led away from the school in handcuffs. Dressed in a black T-shirt reading “I do all my own stunts” and shackled at the wrists and legs, Nee said nothing during the 10-minute hearing.
His attorney, Eric Goldman, said there is no evidence linking him to the plot.
“Mr. Nee is certainly guilty of being a distraught teenager, ... but he was the informant,” Goldman said.
Nee’s father, Thomas Nee, president of the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association, said his son lived with Kerns’ family for three weeks last spring after Nee and his son had a fight over Joseph coming home drunk.
Outside court, a tearful Thomas Nee said he was “embarrassed by the allegations,” but proud of his son for coming forward.
“I don’t care what kids talk about, as long as they don’t act it out,” he said. “I’m just thankful for one thing, that there’s been no tragedy, there’s been nobody hurt.”
Nee said he would stand by his son, one of nine children.
According to court documents, Nee had told a friend he knew how to make a Napalm-like explosive. A search of the woods near Kerns’ home found evidence that an explosive had been detonated there, police said.
Investigators said they also recovered diagrams of the school, including plans for which exits should be padlocked to prevent escape.
Kerns has pleaded innocent to promotion of anarchy and attempted murder charges, and is being held without bail.
His father has said he was framed by Nee following a dispute over a girl. The two boys were part of a group of four students who called themselves NBK, for “Natural Born Killers,” after the movie about a couple who go on a killing spree.
During the Columbine attack on April 20, 1999, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold killed a teacher and 12 of their classmates before killing themselves.