Student's stepfather arrested for making criminal threat
Staff writer
A 38-year-old Florence man is in the Marion County Jail, facing a charge of making a criminal threat. Bond is set at $25,000 for Michael Allen Curley. The incident resulted in a brief "lockdown" of all students and teachers at Marion Elementary School, where they were at the time.
Sheriff Lee Becker said that a few minutes before 9 a.m. Thursday, Marion Communications received a call from Stan Ploutz, principal at Marion Elementary School.
Ploutz said Curley had threatened, over the phone, to come to the school and "shoot everyone." MES was placed in lockdown mode for about 15 minutes, according to Gerald Henderson, superintendent of USD 408, Marion-Florence.
Becker, Deputy Larry Starkey, and Marion Police Lt. Dean Keyes responded to the school. At 9:11 a.m., Curley and his 10-year-old stepdaughter arrived in the driveway at MES. Lt. Keyes had Curley outside the man's vehicle when Becker and Starkey arrived, the sheriff said.
Becker arrested Curley for making a criminal threat. The arrest occurred without incident, and no handcuffs were used. Marion Police Chief Michel Soyez said the intent was to keep the incident low-key and not frighten or traumatize the stepdaughter.
Becker took Curley to St. Luke Hospital, then to the jail, where he was booked in. Soyez and Keyes conducted a follow-up investigation at MES.
Working with Marion County Attorney Susan Robson, Becker and his deputies obtained a search warrant for the Curley home in Florence, expecting to find some firearms.
The Sheriff's Office confiscated two weapons: An assault rifle and a sawed-off, small-caliber rifle, Becker said.
Before the incident at the school, the sheriff's office, in conjunction with the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services, was conducting a child-abuse investigation involving Curley. No charges have been filed in reference to that investigation, Becker said.
The 10-year-old stepdaughter was taken into police protective custody after school Thursday, at 3:30 p.m. Marion police picked her up and took her to the sheriff's office. The sheriff, county attorney, and SRS will work together to be sure she is protected. Soyez said she was taken to Juvenile Intake and Assessment for Marion County.
Becker said, "This call had a lot of potential for violence and loss of life. If a (prisoner) transport from Harvey County had been in process as scheduled, the Sheriff's Office would not have had the ability to respond, due to lack of staff.
"Response to this call was two-pronged; response to the school for security, response to Florence to secure/intercept the subject (Curley)."
Becker said Curley has had "some troubles" with law enforcement in the past.
Soyez said one MES P.E. (physical education) class was being conducted at the swimming pool, across the street to the south, at the time of the incident. Principal Ploutz and Lt. Keyes were on their way out of the school building to retrieve those students and bring them back to the MES building for the lockdown, when they saw Curley driving into the school's U-shaped driveway.
Ploutz went on to the pool to look after the kids there. It was possible to "lock them down" safely at the pool, Soyez said.
"It all happened in a very quick timeframe," Soyez said. Keyes was at the scene two minutes after the call came over to the police department, and four minutes later, Curley drove up.
Curley cooperated with officers, and there was no fight, Soyez noted.
There were no weapons in Curley's vehicle or on his person.
The stepdaughter was counseled for a while by a representative of Prairie View, then went to her classes.
Soyez said police and sheriff's representatives would meet Tuesday with Henderson, Ploutz, and other administrators of USD 408 to discuss Thursday's incident, the law enforcement response to it, and policy for any future such incidents.
Henderson said, "We took this threat very seriously. Our elementary staff responded well, resulting in no one being hurt in a potentially dangerous situation.
"This is a drill we practice, but this was not a drill. The little girl was not in school, so we called the home in Florence. She answered the phone. The stepfather (Curley) came to the phone. He had reportedly been sleeping.
"She is a fourth-grader, and he said he would bring her to the (kindergartners') bus stop at noon Thursday, so she could come to Marion and have a half-day of school, anyway.
"I'll just come down and kill you all. I'm tired of you people hassling me," or words to that effect, were spoken by Curley, Henderson said.
"We have a policy in place for this kind of incident, and have practiced it, but not yet this school year," Henderson said. "We will always err on the side of being over-cautious. Stan (Ploutz) did the right thing."
