Ethiopian Teen sentenced to 14 months of prison in arson, bomb-plot case

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In front of roughly 40 family members and friends Wednesday, an 18-year-old former Springbrook High School student was sentenced to more than a year in prison for setting fires and plotting to set off explosives at the Silver Spring school in April.

During Yonata Getachew's sentencing in Montgomery County Circuit Court, it was clear the troubled student had a supportive family, a timid personality and zero prior encounters with the criminal or juvenile justice system.

But, as prosecutors argued, he also held a grudge against school counselors who he felt unjustly let him toil in special-education classes and had a temper that flared up when he felt slighted.

"This is a very complex picture presented," said Circuit Court Judge Michael D. Mason before sentencing Getachew, of the 11500 block of Sutherland Hill Way in Silver Spring, to 14 months in prison.

"I have seen people commit crimes that need to be punished even if they are good people," he added.

Getachew, dressed in a black sports coat, white dress shirt and black dress pants, spoke briefly Wednesday and showed no reaction when sentenced.

"I am very sorry," Getachew said softly. "I would never hurt anybody."

Getachew pleaded guilty to first-degree arson, first-degree conspiracy to commit arson and two counts of reckless endangerment for his involvement in setting two fires in the boys' bathrooms at Springbrook in April and for attempting to rupture a natural gas line in a classroom.

He will receive credit for 161 days already served at the Montgomery County Detention Center and, after his prison sentence, he will have five years of supervised probation.

His codefendant, 17-year-old Anthony Torrence, was charged in juvenile court and received probation. The names of juveniles charged with crimes are typically withheld, but Torrence's name has been published because he was originally charged as an adult.

The students planned to puncture a gas pipe near the stage in the school's auditorium and throw an incendiary device into the room to cause an explosion after gas filled the room, according to charging documents filed in Montgomery County District Court. They planned to throw a nail bomb into the principal's office and a bag of rocks at a school counselor, according to court documents.

Getachew and Torrence were arrested April 28 after police responded to a report of the bathroom fires and Torrence admitted the plot to an educational facilities officer at the school.

Getachew's attorney, David Putzi of Glen Burnie, argued that his client's actions were the result of a long-held frustration with his academic progress that was provoked when he failed a test that would place him in regular English classes. Getachew had been involved in an Individualized Education Program for students with learning disabilities.

It was after he failed the test that he began to hold ill will toward the school and when he began to plot along with Torrence, who Getachew had only known a few weeks prior to their April 28 arrest, Putzi said.

Torrence's confession made their discussions seem more severe than their actions, which only amounted to $88 in damage, Putzi said in court.

"This case took a life of its own because of statements from Anthony Torrence," said Putzi, who asked Mason for a sentence of only probation, the minimum under the sentencing guidelines.

But Torrence's statements corroborated what Getachew told investigators and Getachew's behavior at school did not corroborate what Putzi and the Getachew family said about his personality, prosecutors said.

"Honesty, obedience, not using foul language: That's the side portrayed to the family, and I'm sure that's all they saw," said Assistant State's Attorney Peter Feeney, who prosecuted the case. "But there's another side to him."

That side included skipping classes, "lying through his teeth" to investigators after his arrest, forging hall passes and throwing profanity-laced tantrums when reprimanded, Feeney said, citing letters submitted to Mason from a security officer at the school and an assistant principal.

Getachew intended to do more harm than Putzi gave him credit for, Feeney said, noting that there was visible damage to the natural gas lines beneath the science classroom at the school.

In the wake of the arrests, several students missed up to a week of class in fear of being harmed, the counselor Getachew targeted left the school system and Springbrook has seen an increase in students transferring to other schools in the Northeast Consortium cluster, according to the letter from the assistant principal, which Feeney read in court.

"He really achieved his goal in instilling fear in those he dislikes," the letter read. "Please hold him accountable."

After the sentencing, his mother, Ayu Getachew, was optimistic her son could live up the promise she has always seen in him, as soon as he gets out of jail.

"We are looking forward to him coming back," she said on the first floor of the courthouse, with the tight-knit family of Ethiopian descent consoling each other around her. "He's going to be a great boy."