ST. ALBANS, Vt. (AP) – A 16-year-old boy who allegedly jabbed more than a dozen other students with a hypodermic needle he had found in the street was charged Wednesday with aggravated assault, authorities said.

Justin Darrah, a sophomore at Bellows Free Academy, was cited on 13 counts and ordered to appear in court Nov. 9, according to Officer Frank McCarty. He is being prosecuted as an adult.

The attacks, which occurred Thursday and Friday at the school, were apparently random and not the result of any grudge or ill will, according to McCarty, who is also school resource officer for the 1,236-student high school.

“You now have Hepatitis B,” he told some of the boys and girls after jabbing them, according to McCarty.

“He just walked up and stabbed me with a needle, and said you now have hepatitis,” student Ava Staples told WCAX-TV on Monday. “I’m pretty nervous.”

Aggravated assault carries a penalty up to of 15 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000 in Vermont.

Darrah threw the needle away after the incidents, McCarty said, leaving authorities unable to test it for disease and the alleged victims fearful that they may have contracted hepatitis or HIV.

Initially, eight students were reported to have been stuck with the needle, but more alleged victims came forward, saying Darrah had jabbed them with the needle in school hallways or classrooms, McCarty said.

Darrah was questioned about the attacks but requested the presence of a lawyer, McCarty said. The boy’s mother, Nicole Clements, declined comment Wednesday on the advice of her attorney. He did not immediately return telephone calls Wednesday.

The victims, who remain in school, have been advised to get tested for hepatitis and other blood-borne diseases. But it could be months before they know whether they were infected with anything.

“They’re teenagers,” said McCarty. “They have to live with this knowing they may have contracted something from the needle. It’s on their minds every day.”

Nathan Parah, a 15-year-old sophomore at the school, said he knows six of the children and said they didn’t seemed fazed.

“They acted like it was no big deal. They acted like they didn’t care,” he said after school Wednesday.

School officials found out about the incidents late Friday and sent a letter to parents Tuesday, notifying them of what had happened, according to Schools Superintendent Marilyn Grunewald.

“The kids are concerned. I’m concerned. The parents are concerned,” said Grunewald.

Jennifer Bonsall, infection control practitioner at Northwestern Medical Center, said the chances of being infected by a dirty needle were slim. But blood tests will have to be taken regularly on the victims.

“They won’t really know for six months or a year. It’s very traumatizing, emotionally,” she said.

AP-ES-11-01-06 2025EST

Copy the Story Link