Jared Cano, Tampa teen, sentenced to 15 years for plotting to bomb high school
Prosecutors called him a “teenage terrorist” attempting to sway the judge to sentence Jared Cano as an adult, resulting in a 15 year prison sentence with 10 years of probation to follow.
Cano burst into tears in the courtroom as the verdict was read Wednesday. Cano’s sister, Alexandra, sobbed and had to escorted out of the courtroom.
Jared Cano
Now at age 18, Cano was convicted of threatening to discharge a destructive device and attempting to discharge a destructive device at Freedom High School in August 2011.
Bizarre videos and posts on Facebook threatening violence or just smoking pot, all were reviewed as a reminder of the words spoken: “”Kill anybody in there. After that, it’s just in the parking lot and just shoot anyone there.”
Psychologists and family all attempted to describe a troubled teen, rambling about violence but incapable of actual violence.
“He has no history of actual violence, though he does have a history of making threats,” psychologist Richard Carpenter stated on stand. “But he never carried them out.”
Cano himself pleaded with Circuit Judge Kimberly Fernandez.
“I don’t want to be the bad guy. I want to be the good guy. The state ain’t gonna make an example. They’re gonna put me in prison. Let me make an example. I had a bad life. Let me change it around and do something good, not bad. Don’t make me the poster child for something evil. Let me be the poster child for something good. Let me do right. Give me a chance to do something right. To make my family proud. I don’t want all these people to think I’m crazy, trying to kill everybody. I want people to look at me as someone who was wrong and changed… and did something right.”
If Cano had been sentenced as a juvenile, authorities could only have supervision over him until he turned 22.
Judge Fernandez said Cano’s deep-seated mental health issues could not possibly be treated over the next four years and that he needed long-term help.
This…I’m just speechless. Murders and rapists can sometimes be out in fifteen years. This guy didn’t even kill anyone. He was just some teen, too stupid to realize the gravity of what he was saying. That judge, she deserves to be in prison. She took his youth, his hopes, and his family’s dreams and destroyed them. That’s murder. I hope the guilt destroys her slowly, so she can lose what she took from him.
We could only hope that ALL “terrorists” would send out their detailed “plans” while easily identified and found.
Oh gee, actual sane terrorists do NOT do that, that’s done by underage KIDS who are calling out for HELP.
So 15 years from now we will have a intensely bitter ADULT out on the streets, one likely abused for years in prison by felons twice his age and size.
The kids could have been sentences as youthful offender, given six years, be kept away from the worst adult rapists and killers, and given enhanced treatment.
Instead, he is now more likely to come out as a time bomb devoid of any remnant of human feeling or hope and filled with hatred.
Good job, Florida! Public safety is NOT the true concern there, it is all POLITICS.
NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO
This is indeed outrageous! He should have gotten more than 15 years!! Does he have mental health issues? Oh, okay. Then slap his little wrist and let him go. Make him promise to go to a counselor. And HOPE he doesn’t then kill a bunch of people…
NO! If you (American people in general) want to be a big boy, make terroristic plans and videos, talk like a terrorist and act like a terrorist, then you will be treated like one!! I would rather put every one of them in jail than risk one of them following through one day. Let them seek help for their “mental issue” in jail, out of reach of the public. Keep the rest of us safe.
It’s ironic that the same people who cry about unfair punishment, and not enough mental health rehab, are the first ones to cry about not enough gun control, or not enough being done by law enforcement when the shootings happen.
Lock them all up and throw away the key. Maybe, just maybe, some of them will start getting the picture….
[…] Jared Cano, Tampa teen, sentenced to 15 years for plotting to bomb high school […]
The sentence this young man received is outrageous. From what I have read, he had nothing in his possession that indicated he would carry out his threats. He was a juvenile at the time, to boot. This young man has mental health issues. Our country seems to think it can incarcerate itself out of healthcare and social issues. Over 2 million Americans currently incarcerated, 1 out of every 104. Shame on us for letting this happen.