Jan 1, 2008 3:27 pm US/Eastern
Mother Arrested After Son's Alleged 'Plot To Kill'
Over 30 Weapons, 4 Grenades Found In Home Of 14-Year-Old
PLYMOUTH MEETING (CBS 3) ―
The mother of a 14-year-old who was reportedly planning a 'Columbine'-type event at a Montgomery County high school was arrested on gun charges Friday.
Police charged 46-year-old Michele Cossey with six gun charges on allegations she purchased three weapons for her son, including a .22 caliber handgun, a .22 caliber rifle and a 9mm rifle.
The teen allegedly planned to use the weapons in a plot to kill students at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School.
A student informed his parents of the plot after the home-schooled teen tried to recruit him in the alleged plot.
"He came to us and said he had information that he thought was a serious matter," said Lewis Bennett, the boy's father.
Bennett said he drove his son to the Plymouth Whitemarsh Police Department and informed authorities of the alleged plot.
After receiving permission from the parents of the 14-year-old, police conducted a search of the boy's home and recovered a cache of weapons.
Officers recovered more than 30 weapons, including 9mm assault rifle, various realistic air guns, explosive black powder and three handmade hand grenades.
Authorities said the teen had been constructing the three inactive grenades in order to make them operational.
"It is my judgment, you are clearly talking about a disturbed individual, a very disturbed individual," said Montgomery County District Attorney Bruce Castor.
Books on how to make explosives, videos of the Columbine shooting and notebooks full of plans, and details of violent acts were also recovered from the teen's home.
"I'm very upset by the lack of oversight that apparently the parents had in this case," Castor said.
Cossey
, of Plymouth Meeting, bought the rifle, which had a laser scope, at a gun show on Sept. 23 and provided police with a receipt, investigators said in court papers. The teenager said the two .22-caliber weapons were stored at a friend's house.
The teen was charged as a juvenile with solicitation to commit terror and other counts and was being held at a youth facility. The teen had a brief court appearance Friday at which the county public defender's office and prosecutors agreed to continue holding him while they do psychiatric evaluations.
The boy was led out of the courtroom in shackles and he didn't answer questions from the media.
His mother was charged with unlawful transfer of a firearm, possession of a firearm by a minor, corruption of a minor, endangering the welfare of a child and two counts of reckless endangerment.
Castor has said he does not believe an attack was imminent or would occur at all. He said Friday that the teen was intelligent, but had a "disturbed mind."
"This was a smart kid that clearly believes he was picked on and was a victim," Castor said. "He had psychological issues and began to act out on those feelings."
Cossey did not appear to have any role in planning an attack "but by virtue of her indulgence, she enabled him to get in this position," Castor said. "This is not the best parenting I've ever seen and she needs to be held accountable.
The student seemed fascinated by the 1999 massacre at
Columbine High School . His account on MySpace, the social networking site, is filled with references to Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold.
"I am pretymuch," he wrote in a badly spelled post, "the posterboy for the person that rests upon the line between Geineus and Madman/Pycopath."
"O and as 4 my personal saying....if at first you dont sucseed, use the armor piercing rounds," he also wrote.
He lists his motto as: "Mess with the best, Die like the rest."
He also posted videos recreating the lives of Klebold and Harris and tribute videos to the two shooters.
The search did not turn up any ammunition for the most dangerous firearm in the bunch, the assault rifle.
The teen previously attended middle school in the district but had been taught at home for more than a year after voluntarily leaving school, Castor said.
The teen's father, Frank Cossey, was sentenced to house arrest for lying about his criminal record when he went to buy a .22-caliber rifle for his son in December 2005,
Plymouth Township police said Friday.
On his application, he said he had never been convicted of a felony, but he had pleaded guilty in 1981 to manslaughter in a drunken driving death in
Oklahoma and sent to prison, police said.
Michele Cossey is free on $50,000 bail.
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