THE CONNETQUOT THREAT: Building their case

The writings of a troubled teenager, no matter how

disturbing, weren't enough.

To make an arrest and stop a potential Columbine-style attack on Connetquot

High School in its planning stages, Suffolk police said, they needed more.

Yesterday, a police detective revealed that five days after police got hold

of a 15-year-old student's journal found in a parking lot, information

retrieved from the boy's computer gave police the evidence for an arrest.

Before Wednesday's search of the teen's computer hard drive, "we still

didn't have probable cause for a conspiracy charge because we still required an

overt act," Chief of Detectives Dominick Varrone said.

That overt act came in the form of a purchase order for black powder used

to make explosives, and chats and e-mails that revealed the teen's attempts to

buy weapons over the Internet, Varrone said.

It would be Thursday, during a meeting of detectives, police commanders and

a prosecutor with the Suffolk district attorney's office, that authorities

thought they had enough evidence to prove a conspiracy charge.

"These are very time-consuming things to do," Varrone said of the data

retrieval done by the computer crime unit. "A significant amount of methodical

police work is involved."

Police arrested the 15-year-old, whose name was not released because he has

been charged as a juvenile, and Michael McDonough, 17, of Holbrook, on

Thursday night, Varrone said. No one answered the doors at the teens' homes

yesterday.

A diary found in a McDonald's restaurant parking lot in Bohemia and turned

over to school officials on July 6 sparked the investigation.

That day, school officials told police about the diary and gave Fifth

Precinct officers the name of the student they believed penned it. Police went

to the boy's home that day and recovered the computer, a video camera and

knives, Varrone said.

The officers learned that the 15-year-old was on long-term suspension from

the high school for "similar-type, prior threats," police said.

Police questioned the teen about an accomplice, Varrone said, and the

juvenile gave McDonough's name to police.

Investigators spent last Sunday trying to find McDonough, who worked with

the 15-year-old at the McDonald's. Police found where he lived and interviewed

his mother.

The next day, police caught up with McDonough and interviewed him. With

parental consent, officers searched McDonough's home, police said. Police

didn't disclose what, if anything, they recovered.

On Tuesday, police interviewed the 15-year-old and McDonough, who each made

unspecified "admissions," Varrone said.

On Wednesday, police and prosecutors obtained search warrants for the

15-year-old's computer.

The next day, police brass held the meeting.

"The DA said, 'You have enough for the conspiracy misdemeanor,'" Varrone

said.

Attempts to reach Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota yesterday were

unsuccessful.

One expert, a consultant on school security, Kenneth Trump, of Cleveland,

gave school officials and law enforcement in Suffolk high marks for their

handling of the case.

Officials took the threats seriously, did a timely investigation and made a

prompt arrest, Trump said.

"I think that the response is textbook," he said.

Police commanders then dealt with the question of whether to go public with

the details of the alleged plot on Friday.

"There's always the desire to keep events such as this quiet, so you don't

get the local public upset and create a copycat situation," Connetquot

Superintendent Alan Groveman said. "I think the police were fully correct in

making this public, to let everybody know how seriously we take this, and how

much time and effort goes into catching the people who do this."

Law enforcement has learned from training and seminars that underestimating

the potential threat is a mistake, Varrone said.

"We know from Columbine, attackers would not just snap. The attacks

appeared to be an end result of a process of thinking and behavior that begins

with an idea, progresses with the development of a plan, and moves on to

securing the means of the plan and culminates in an attack," he said.

"We obviously would hope to interrupt that plan at some point, and I think

that occurred in this case."