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Teen formerly accused of plotting Ontario school shooting sentenced to probation

sbsun.com 2 days ago
Sebastian Bailey Villaseñor is shown talking with attorney Daniel DeLimon during a hearing in Rancho Cucamonga Superior Court on May 30, 2024. Villaseñor, once accused of plotting to shoot up Ontario Christian High, was sentenced to probation on July 1 and ordered to stay away from the school. (File photo by contributing Photographer/John Valenzuela)
Sebastian Bailey Villaseñor is shown talking with attorney Daniel DeLimon during a hearing in Rancho Cucamonga Superior Court on May 30, 2024. Villaseñor, once accused of plotting to shoot up Ontario Christian High, was sentenced to probation on July 1 and ordered to stay away from the school. (File photo by contributing Photographer/John Valenzuela)

The former Ontario Christian High student once charged with plotting to murder classmates was sentenced to three years’ probation on Monday, July 1, and will not serve any additional jail time.

Five counts of attempted murder were officially dropped Monday in Superior Court in Rancho Cucamonga, where Judge Jon Ferguson sentenced 18-year-old Sebastian Bailey Villaseñor on a felony count of witness intimidation that was added as part of a plea agreement with the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office.

The sentence included 221 days in jail that were canceled out by credit for the time that Villaseñor served since his arrest in February.

The terms of the probation include weekly counseling sessions and staying at least 500 yards away from the high school. He also may not come within 200 yards of any other school that he is not enrolled in.

Villaseñor may not possess any weapons, explosives or bomb-making materials. He must wear a tracking monitor until the Riverside County Probation Department takes control of the Eastvale resident.

He was ordered to avoid contact with the victim — in this case, his 15-year-old sister — except under circumstances approved by his probation officer.

Ontario police held a news conference on Feb. 14 to announce the arrest of Villaseñor. Chief Michael Lorenz said Villaseñor, who had just turned 18, was fixated on school shootings and had access to weapons. The arrest came after Villaseñor’s sister, angered over an argument with her brother during which he clinched his fist, told school officials that he had recently posed for selfies with his father’s rifles in their home, watched violent videos and was obsessed with the Columbine school shooting massacre, she testified.

Defense attorney Daniel DeLimon argued that the charges were filed only after his client provided investigators with theoretical answers to theoretical questions such as “If you were going to shoot up the school, how would you do it?” and that Villaseñor’s down-the-rabbit-hole research was partly a result of being autistic.

He never attempted to carry out a plot, DeLimon said.

DeLimon elicited testimony from detectives at the preliminary hearing that no one at the school felt threatened by Villaseñor — except for his sister — and that no threats had been communicated to anyone at the 475-student school despite authorities listing five specific victims.

Nevertheless, a judge ordered Villaseñor held for trial. But afterward, both sides quickly agreed on a plea bargain when neither side wanted to risk the result of a jury verdict.

District Attorney Jason Anderson said he approved of the deal because it would provide “boundaries” for Villaseñor that would not have existed if he was acquitted at trial.

The father of one of the reported victims said at Villaseñor’s plea hearing that he believed Villasenor should be in custody during his treatment and that his daughter remained frightened.

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