Student charged with stealing gun
Posted on Friday, May 16, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/News/65231/
A junior at Prairie Grove High School faces an arrest warrant for allegedly stealing a handgun from the father of one of his friends.
Prairie Grove police Chief Carl Dorman said there is no evidence that the student took the gun to school.
Ge Yang, 18, was charged Wednesday with theft of property, and a warrant was issued for his arrest. The arrest warrant shows that Yang’s address is north of Prairie Grove at 12631 Viney Grove Road.
Washington County sheriff ’s deputies responded on April 1 to a home along Viney Grove Road to investigate a report of a stolen 9 mm Ruger handgun.
After learning that the homeowner’s two sons had friends over the night before, deputies went to the school to interrogate Yang and another student who was a minor, according to an affidavit filed in the case.
Sgt. Lynn Morgan of the Washington County Sheriff’s Office said deputies took the report seriously because they wanted to make sure the gun had not been taken to school.
Yang acted nervous and could not sit still during the interview with detectives when he denied taking the gun, according to the affidavit.
Yang then agreed to take a polygraph at the Sheriff’s Office, but authorities said the test was stopped because he did not cooperate. Yang then confessed that he had stolen the pistol and put it in the hard drive of his computer tower.
Morgan said Yang was not arrested at that time because the homeowner said he did not want to press charges against his son’s friend, who had just turned 18. He reportedly changed his mind after learning more about Yang and asked the 4 th Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney’s office to file charges.
In most cases, formal charges are filed after a suspect has been arrested and before the arraignment. In this case, charges were filed and an arrest warrant was issued.