VERO BEACH – A former Vero Beach High School student accused of making at least six false bomb threats Thursday was sentenced to three years in a youthful offender program followed by three years of probation.
Taren Stage, now 18, was 17 when authorities say he phoned in the fake bomb threats and disrupted activity at Vero Beach High School.
“I’m not going to let you down,” Stage told the court and more than a dozen supporters after receiving his sentence. “I promise.”
Outside the courtroom, Stage’s mother spoke briefly.
“I think this will be good for him,” Courtney Janssen said of her son being treated as a youthful offender and sent to boot camp-style facility rather than as an adult where he faced 90 years in prison.
She spoke on her son’s behalf before Circuit Judge Robert Hawley, telling the court that what Stage is accused of doing is completely out of his character.
“God never gave me a better child,” Janssen said, noting that Stage is her youngest. “He’s a caretaker.”
She told the court that she has yet to get a reason from her son as to why he would make the bomb threats.
“Taren is not the monster” he has been made out to be in the media, Janssen added.
Judge Hawley, who handed down the sentence Thursday afternoon, told Stage that he must strictly adhere to the terms of his probation. If Stage violates those terms, Judge Hawley said, the State Attorney’s Office could seek the maximum adult sentence against the teen.
“I have no excuses,” Stage said on his behalf before Judge Hawley handed down the sentence. “I have no one to blame but myself.”
He went on to tell the court that he has lost everything due to the fake bomb threats, noting the loss of his fiancée, a writing scholarship, and that he can’t play football anymore.
“I was in the wrong with everything,” he said. “I know I can turn this around. I don’t want to be in prison my whole life.”
Assistant State Attorney Patrick O’Brien asked Judge Hawley to sentence Stage to the Department of Corrections rather than the Department of Juvenile Justice.
O’Brien argued that Stage did not come before Judge Hawley with a clean record and, at this time, there are allegations against Stage that he assaulted a counselor at a juvenile facility in an attempt to escape.
Several witnesses were called to speak on behalf of Stage, all saying that he should be held accountable for making the false bomb threats during the 2009 school year. None, however, wanted to see him go to prison.
“He’s a good kid,” said Stage’s former football coach Richard Cromer Jr. “He’s got a lot to look forward to.”
Cromer added that the Taren Stage who made the bomb threats is not the kid he once knew.
As part of his sentence, Stage will not be allowed to step foot on any public school’s property without prior consent. He must also undergo mental health evaluations 60 days after being released from the juvenile program and follow any and all counseling and treatments.
Stage must also make restitution, which exceeds $8,700. A court hearing will be held to determine the exact cost and how it would be paid.Stage
