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Bluelighter
Man offers students money for urine in Manhattan Beach elementary restroom
Larry Altman and Douglas Morino
Dailybreeze.com
2.09.10
A Mira Costa High School graduate tried to collect urine from boys in the restroom of a Manhattan Beach elementary school, ostensibly to use in drug screening tests, police said Tuesday.
Kevin Manuel Duron, 18, of Manhattan Beach allegedly offered two boys several dollars if they would urinate in a cup for him, Manhattan Beach police Sgt. Brian Brown said.
That occurred late last week, Brown said, and Duron was arrested Monday when he returned to Pacific Elementary School. The teen was spotted in a hallway shortly after he arrived on the campus, he said. School officials detained him until police arrived.
"It appears he was trying to solicit urine from elementary school students," Brown said. "Our working theory is he's trying to gather urine to pass drug tests."
Detectives already were working to identify Duron from video surveillance taken Friday when the same man walked onto the Pacific Avenue campus and entered a boy's restroom, Brown said.
The man approached a third-grade student
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in the restroom and asked the boy to urinate in a cup, said Carolyn Seaton, executive director of educational services for the Manhattan Beach Unified School District.
The boy said, "I'm not going to do that," and later told his mother. She reported what happened to school officials, who called police, Seaton said.
School officials retrieved the surveillance footage showing the man entering the school and provided it to detectives.
On Monday, as detectives worked to identify the man in the video, a Pacific teacher spotted him in the hallway and called Principal Debbie Mabry. Mabry confronted Duron and asked what he was doing on campus, Seaton said.
Duron said he was there to give his younger brother lunch money. But Seaton said Duron does not have a brother in the school.
Duron did not molest any boys, but he was arrested under the Penal Code provision that deals with "annoying or molesting children," Brown said.
Brown said the charge often is filed as a misdemeanor, but investigators are pursuing a felony case against Duron because the alleged crime occurred on school grounds.
Duron was held at the Manhattan Beach jail on $150,000 bail. He is scheduled to appear in a Torrance courtroom today.
A teenager who answered the telephone at Duron's home Tuesday identified himself as his brother. He said, "We have nothing to say."
A special section of the Daily Breeze devoted to 2009 high school graduates listed Duron among Mira Costa students graduating last June.
On Friday and Monday, Pacific Elementary's principal sent e-mails to parents to inform them about what had happened and to reassure them no students were hurt.
"Thankfully, the police shared with me that based on the information that they gathered in their questioning, they thought that students/staff were not in any danger from the presence of this teenager on campus," Mabry wrote.
The principal wrote that Pacific staff will "reinforce our established safety practices," including signing in all approved visitors and identifying them with badges.
Students also will be allowed to go to the restroom only in pairs.
"Obviously, we don't want anyone on our campus who doesn't belong," Seaton said. "If they have a reason to be on campus, then great. If they don't, we work with the proper authorities to remove them from campus if they have no business being there."
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Larry Altman and Douglas Morino
Dailybreeze.com
2.09.10
A Mira Costa High School graduate tried to collect urine from boys in the restroom of a Manhattan Beach elementary school, ostensibly to use in drug screening tests, police said Tuesday.
Kevin Manuel Duron, 18, of Manhattan Beach allegedly offered two boys several dollars if they would urinate in a cup for him, Manhattan Beach police Sgt. Brian Brown said.
That occurred late last week, Brown said, and Duron was arrested Monday when he returned to Pacific Elementary School. The teen was spotted in a hallway shortly after he arrived on the campus, he said. School officials detained him until police arrived.
"It appears he was trying to solicit urine from elementary school students," Brown said. "Our working theory is he's trying to gather urine to pass drug tests."
Detectives already were working to identify Duron from video surveillance taken Friday when the same man walked onto the Pacific Avenue campus and entered a boy's restroom, Brown said.
The man approached a third-grade student
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in the restroom and asked the boy to urinate in a cup, said Carolyn Seaton, executive director of educational services for the Manhattan Beach Unified School District.
The boy said, "I'm not going to do that," and later told his mother. She reported what happened to school officials, who called police, Seaton said.
School officials retrieved the surveillance footage showing the man entering the school and provided it to detectives.
On Monday, as detectives worked to identify the man in the video, a Pacific teacher spotted him in the hallway and called Principal Debbie Mabry. Mabry confronted Duron and asked what he was doing on campus, Seaton said.
Duron said he was there to give his younger brother lunch money. But Seaton said Duron does not have a brother in the school.
Duron did not molest any boys, but he was arrested under the Penal Code provision that deals with "annoying or molesting children," Brown said.
Brown said the charge often is filed as a misdemeanor, but investigators are pursuing a felony case against Duron because the alleged crime occurred on school grounds.
Duron was held at the Manhattan Beach jail on $150,000 bail. He is scheduled to appear in a Torrance courtroom today.
A teenager who answered the telephone at Duron's home Tuesday identified himself as his brother. He said, "We have nothing to say."
A special section of the Daily Breeze devoted to 2009 high school graduates listed Duron among Mira Costa students graduating last June.
On Friday and Monday, Pacific Elementary's principal sent e-mails to parents to inform them about what had happened and to reassure them no students were hurt.
"Thankfully, the police shared with me that based on the information that they gathered in their questioning, they thought that students/staff were not in any danger from the presence of this teenager on campus," Mabry wrote.
The principal wrote that Pacific staff will "reinforce our established safety practices," including signing in all approved visitors and identifying them with badges.
Students also will be allowed to go to the restroom only in pairs.
"Obviously, we don't want anyone on our campus who doesn't belong," Seaton said. "If they have a reason to be on campus, then great. If they don't, we work with the proper authorities to remove them from campus if they have no business being there."
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