Teen admits role in failed Connetquot plot

The former girlfriend of a Bohemia teenager who admitted planning a Columbine-style attack on Connetquot High School Wednesday acknowledged her role in the aborted plot.

Dana Saltzman, 17, of Commack, pleaded guilty to second-degree conspiracy in Suffolk County Court in Riverhead. She is expected to be sentenced to 5 years' probation. County Court Judge Stephen Braslow scheduled sentencing for May 4.

Saltzman was released without bail. She did not speak to a reporter as she left court.

Her ex-boyfriend, Christopher Franko, 18, of Bohemia, pleaded guilty on Feb. 14 to second-degree conspiracy. He was sentenced to 3 to 9 years.

Prosecutors said Franko had targeted several former Connetquot classmates in the plot last year, which was never carried out. Saltzman was never a student at the school.

Franko had also admitted in 2007 to an earlier plot to attack the school. For that, he was sentenced in Suffolk Family Court to a year in juvenile detention.

Saltzman's attorney, J. Ceasar Galarza of Massapequa Park, said Franko coerced Saltzman into participating in the plot. "He basically manipulated her," Galarza said. "She really was a small player in this."

He said Saltzman cooperated with prosecutors.