Accused bank robber 'not a bad kid', neighbors say
By ROWENA PLETT
Reporter / photographer
Brandon Klenda is a junior at Centre High School. He and Jack Davis, a high school drop-out, have been arrested and are suspects in the Jan. 3 armed robbery of the Roxbury State Bank.
Klenda has been adjudicated to stand trial as an adult and is in custody along with Davis at the McPherson County Jail. A final hearing on the adjudication is planned.
Chris and Melissa Stuchlik live in the area where the boys live. They have never viewed Brandon as a bad kid.
"I don't think Brandon would have hurt anyone," Melissa said. "He just hasn't had any opportunity."
Brandon and Melissa's son Anthony were best friends. Brandon often was at the Stuchliks' home.
Anthony was killed in a car accident when he was 13 years old. Brandon led a special ceremony at his friend's gravesite. Once, he helped the Stuchliks put a new roof on their house.
"I'm sick to my stomach about the whole thing," Melissa said. "My son was taken away and Brandon is wasting away his life."
According to Melissa, Brandon's mother Tamara worked long hours and their father Steve, who has multiple sclerosis, held two jobs for a time; therefore, Brandon and his older brother Russell and older sister Stephanie often were home alone.
Sometimes the Stuchliks and other neighbors and relatives helped Brandon with things such as school or Cub Scout projects and transportation.
The boys started to get into trouble for little things. As the offenses continued and hoping that the authorities would intervene and help them, the Stuchliks sometimes contacted the SRS or sheriff's department, Melissa said.
Both boys have served time in juvenile detention, she said.
The Stuchliks believe that something should have been done to help them before things got more serious.
"There were cries for help all along. The system failed them," she said.
According to Marion County Sheriff Lee Becker, Brandon had several chances to straighten out his life but he chose not to.
Brandon's sister is upset with him.
"He knows what he did," she said. "He knows it is wrong. He had a chance to rehabilitate himself a year ago when he was in state custody and it didn't do him any good."
Stephanie said she and her parents talked to him Thursday night after his arrest and he wasn't sorry for what he had done.
"I've taken crap all my life, my parents have taken crap all their life, for what he has done," she said. "They've worked hard and paid money to get him out of trouble and then he does something else. I'm tired of being looked down upon because of him."
Raschelle Jirak, a senior at Centre High School and president of the student council, has known Brandon since kindergarten. She told KWCH Channel 12, Wichita, that she wasn't greatly surprised when she heard that he was implicated in the robbery.
"He's been in trouble before, but nothing this serious, so it was a little surprising," she added.
Bud Petersen coached Brandon in football for three weeks last fall before the 17-year-old was arrested for violating his probation from an earlier run-in with the law. According to Peterson, Brandon always was at practice and did a good job. He said Brandon wasn't a problem at school.
