Suspect in school threat must wear GPS monitoring

Maria Flora, The Lebanon Reporter, Ind.
·2 min read

Oct. 25—A Boone County judge set bond Monday for a teen charged with intimidation after a photo of him holding what appears to be a gun circulated on social media last week.

Text on the photo reads: "best investment I've made so far boutta make these webo mf regret even saying my name." WeBo is short for Western Boone County Community Schools.

Kenneth 'Kenny' Getch, 18, a Lebanon High School senior, was arrested on a warrant Friday for a charge of intimidation and spent the weekend in the Boone County Jail. On Monday Getch entered a preliminary plea of not guilty before Boone Superior Court II Judge Bruce Petit and bonded out of jail shortly after.

"The court granted the state's request for a $5,000 surety bond with GPS monitoring as an added condition at our request," Boone County Prosecutor Kent Eastwood said, adding that amount is standard for a level 6 felony.

Getch is barred from all Western Boone property and must wear a GPS monitor that will track his whereabouts and immediately notify police if he approaches an "exclusion zone."

"He's also ordered to stay away from any and all events where Western Boone students are reasonably expected to attend," Eastwood said, giving an upcoming WeBo away ballgame, or sporting and extracurricular events at Lebanon Community Schools as examples.

Getch told Boone County Sheriff's Lt. Jason Reynolds that he made the image Oct. 15 while visiting a friend in Greenwood on Saturday and holding a fake gun, it was intended as a joke for close friends, and it was never meant as a threat, according to a probable cause affidavit.

But the photo spread online and Western Boone School officials called for police to investigate the following day. Western Boone parents took to social media to express fear and speculate about Getch's intentions, some comparing the situation to photos sent before mass school shootings elsewhere in the country that occurred after a suspect posted a threatening photo.

"I will seek a special prosecutor because the Western Boone County Community Schools community is listed as the victim, and my family is in that," Eastwood said Monday after Getch's initial hearing.

Petit scheduled a trial for March.