THOMASVILLE — A Thomas County Middle School student confessed Tuesday to urinating on a school computer Monday afternoon. A second student admitted to being the lookout.

A TCMS teacher noticed a suspicious-acting student leaving the TCMS computer lab about 3 p.m. Monday, said Steve Jones, Thomas County Sheriff’s Office deputy and school resource officer coordinator.

No other students were in the lab at that time, the end of the school day.

When urine was discovered in a computer Tuesday morning, the teacher reported seeing the student Monday afternoon.

The students were interviewed and confessed, Jones explained.

The deputy did not know the boys’ ages.

“They will be charged in Juvenile Court,” the deputy said. The youths are charged with criminal damage to government property.

The computer destroyed has a value of $700.

Dr. Larry Green, Thomas County Schools superintendent, said school system punishment for the destruction will include restitution.

The students have been suspended.

Green expressed concern about what he called “unusual conduct” in the incident. He will discuss with Van Cowart, TCMS principal, whether other punishment is in order.

It had not been determined Tuesday if the boys will go to the school system alternative school.

Jones said several similar incidents occurred with middle school computers during the 2004-2005 school year.

He does not think those incidents and the one Monday are connected, but he is optimistic an arrest will be made in the older cases.



Senior reporter Patti Dozier can be reached at (229) 226-2400, ext. 220.