Teenager cleared in Pontiac school gun case

PONTIAC -- A judge has cleared a teenager in a gun incident that led authorities to lock down a central Illinois high school last month.

Associate Judge Robert Travers on Tuesday freed the teen, who had been in custody since the Aug. 28 incident.

The boy, who has not been identified, was charged as a juvenile with weapons possession after the police found the guns at Pontiac Township High School in Pontiac. The town is about 35 miles northeast of Bloomington.

Prosecutors say another Pontiac High student, 16-year-old Sean Sullivan of nearby Odell, brought the guns to school to sell to third student, 15-year-old Martin Huerta Jr. of Saunemin. Both were charged as adults.

Sullivan has pleaded not guilty to a dozen weapons-possession charges. Huerta faces the same charges, plus a cocaine-possession charge, but has not entered a plea. He is scheduled to appear in court next month.

Judge Travers ruled the acquitted teen saw the guns while riding on a school bus with Sullivan and Huerta and asked them to show the guns to another student. But Travers said the evidence in the case indicated the teen didn't handle the guns and wasn't part of the alleged sale plan.

The other student on the bus told a police officer based at the school about the guns, leading to the lockdown.