Prank or Serious Crime

Prank Or Serious Crime :?: Do You Think These Charges Are Too Harsh :?:

Hearing Held In Poison Cake Case :shock:

MARIETTA, Ga. -- One of the two girls accused of bringing a cake to school that sickened about a dozen students will not return home to her parents after a judge denied a motion Friday to give them custody as she awaits trial.

Both teens were charged with 12 counts of aggravated assault with intent to commit murder. One girl was also charged with terroristic acts and interference with government property.

The 13-year-old girl has been charged with 12 counts of aggravated assault with intent to commit murder, one count of terroristic acts and one count of interference with government property for allegedly baking and distributing a cornbread cake made with bleach, glue, tobasco sauce and other substances.

Cobb County Juvenile Court Judge J. Stephen Schuster ordered the girl returned to the custody of the youth detention center where she has been since her arrest Wednesday.

However, he allowed the Department of Juvenile Justice to place her in a non-secure shelter where she will live under state supervision.

Scuster, meanwhile, released the other 13-year-old girl accused in the case to the custody of her parents.

District Attorney Pat Head said the decision was made after hearing testimony describing her as an honor roll student and competitive cheerleader with no history of discipline problems, that girl is believed to only have taken part in baking the cake, but not distributing it to classmates.

The father of the other East Cobb Middle School student said Thursday his daughter has a mild form of autism that sometimes causes her to make inappropriate statements and makes it difficult to relate to others.

Two 13-year-old girls accused of serving poisoned cake to their classmates made their first appearance in Cobb County Juvenile Court on Wednesday.

The father said his daughter was diagnosed this summer with Asperger's syndrome, and that doctors told him the girl should not be in a conventional school setting.

Asperger's is an autism-related condition characterized by social and communication deficiencies.

He said his daughter did not mean to harm anyone with the cake.

"It was a horrible prank that went too far and a lot of people have suffered," the father told The Associated Press. The man asked that he not be identified by name to protect his daughter.

Some of the students started vomiting after eating the cake in the school cafeteria Tuesday. Eleven students, mostly seventh-graders, were treated at a hospital and released.

The father said the two girls began playing around in the kitchen Tuesday after growing bored.

"It was not any kind of malicious intent," he said. "They thought it would be funny. They know it's not funny now."

Police said they are baffled as to why the girls would bring a poisoned cake to school.

"At this point we don't have any motive," said Cpl. Dana Pierce, a police spokesman. "That's part of the mystery."

School system spokesman Jay Dillon said the girls apparently did not target anyone in particular when they offered it to classmates.

"They were offering the cake to anyone who would take it," he told the newspaper.

Dillon said regardless of the outcome in court, the girls face long suspensions and possibly could be expelled.