Direct questions Ari

Question 1

Please state your name to the court.

Answer 1

Ari Nowak

Question 2

What is your current occupation?

Answer 2

I have been working as a school Resource Officer, commonly referred to as an SRO, for Cardinal County School District for the last five years and I have been assigned to Trillium High School for the last three years.

Question 3

What past occupations have you had?

Answer 3

I am a police officer with the Harmony Police Department and have served the City of Harmony for the last 10 years. I have also worked as a detective full-time with Harmony PD before transferring within the police department to take on the position I hold now.

Question 4

And what education have had in the field of criminal justice?

Answer 4

I have an undergrad degree in criminal justice.

Question 5

Could you explain to the court some of the differences between a typical Police Officer and an SRO?

Answer 5

There is a little more training in becoming an SRO, but not much more than a traditional officer for Harmony. Being an SRO involves more than training for investigation purposes. A larger part of my job is being a good mentor for the children so that they feel comfortable coming to me when they need help. Overall, my job is to make Trillium High School a safe, secure, and orderly place for students, teachers, and staff.

Question 6

Present Exhibit E
Your honor, we are presenting what has been previously established as Exhibit E, which is a five-page document. Let the record reflect that I am showing a clear and unmarked copy of Exhibit E to opposing counsel. Your honor, may I approach the witness?

Mrs. Nowak, I am showing you what has been marked as Exhibit E. Do you recognize that exhibit?

Answer 6

I do.

Question 7

Could you explain to the court what it is that you are looking at?

Answer 7

This is the SRO Memorandum of Understanding that is held between the Cardinal County Public School District and the Harmony Police Department that employs me.

Question 8

Taking a closer look at this document, could you please refer to section 5, titled “SRO Training”, and tell the court a little bit about what training is required of you while acting as an SRO?

Answer 8

I attend a minimum of twelve training hours per year where I receive ongoing professional development in child and adolescent development, conflict resolutions, and diversion strategies.

Question 9

Can you elaborate on what some of the differences are between a school administrator and an SRO?

Answer 9

While students don’t check their rights at the door, a school administrator isn’t a police officer, and therefore they aren’t held to the same standard that law enforcement is when questioning a child.

Question 10

So how do you handle that being employed by both the school and by a police department?

Answer 10

As an SRO, balancing that status as a person employed by the school and a person employed by the state is an important part of our training, to the kids while also protecting both the school and the general public.

Question 11

And why is that important?

Answer 11

Our training stresses making sure that the student knows that they are free to leave, otherwise as an SRO, we must go through the proper steps of Mirandizing the student. It’s important to follow proper procedures to both protect the kids and make sure no one gets off on a technicality due to bad investigation practices.

Question 12

Were you working as an SRO at Trillium on September 9th, 2022?

Answer 12

Yes, I was.

Question 13

Can you tell the court if there were any extra job duties slated for you on that day?

Answer 13

There was a scheduled Alumni breakfast for that day which would allow non-students in the building. The district wanted me there in case something happened with the government officials and new anchors that were expected to attend.

Question 14

And did something end up happening at the Breakfast that day?

Answer 14

It wasn’t until I heard Dean Silva yell about something being wrong with the eggs that I learned that the food had been tampered with. I went to the kitchen to see if everything was ok, but when I arrived the Dean had already figured out that it was an exploding candy incident and all the food had to be thrown away.

Question 15

Was the situation deemed serious enough for you to respond within your power as an SRO immediately?

Answer 15

At the time, the situation was found to be serious, but not so serious that it would be threatening enough to evacuate the school and escalate the situation. There wasn’t a lot for me to do on the day the incident actually occurred.

Question 16

To your knowledge, were there leads on a suspect immediately following the incident?

Answer 16

Well, once things calmed down, I was able to speak with Dean Silva to figure out if we had any leads on who the perpetrator or perpetrators might be, but no one immediately jumped out as a suspect.

Question 17

And what happened after this conversation with Dean Silva?

Answer 17

I was able to continue with my usual SRO duties: going through the halls, interacting with students, and monitoring for any suspicious behavior or activity.

Question 18

At what point did you become involved with this situation after the initial incident?

Answer 18

On September 12th, which would have been the Monday following the fiasco, Dean Silva, Rowan Tesfaye, a student named Blair Georgiu, and I met to discuss the Exploding Candy incident and the fallout that occurred as a result of it.

Question 19

What was discussed at this meeting?

Answer 19

At first, it was more general, discussing what to do with leftover silent auction items, how to recoup from the cost of the event, and if other fundraising events could be planned for later in the year. Blair brought up some questions about tracking down the person who did the prank and whether or not this was something that could lead to criminal charges.

Question 20

And do you remember what your response was to Blair’s questions?

Answer 20

I do. I explained to them that based on the information we currently had, there wasn’t enough to launch a formal investigation, but depending on what was found out, the police could investigate it more thoroughly and might be able to charge the perpetrator with a number of crimes.

Question 21

At what point were you made aware that a potential suspect had been identified?

Answer 21

On September 15th, before school started, Blair dropped by Dean Silva’s office to tell them that they believed another student, Stevie Kahn, was possibly involved in the breakfast incident.

Question 22

Were you immediately made aware of why Stevie Khan had been identified as a potential suspect?

Answer 22

Not necessarily. Dean Silva has a lot of duties in the morning, as we start the school day, so I did offer to talk with Stevie. Dean Silva was the one overseeing the Exploding Candy incident and relayed to me that they would like to talk with Stevie as well, so I followed their lead and continued my normal SRO duties throughout the rest of the morning and into the afternoon.

Question 23

To your knowledge, was Dean Silva able to make contact with Stevie that day?

Answer 23

Yes! At around 1:30 p.m. later that day, Dean Silva brought Stevie down for questioning.

Question 24

What were you doing when Stevie Khan was being questioned?

Answer 24

I was in the administrative office making some copies back and forth to the SRO office when the questioning began.

Question 25

So did you end up getting to meet with Stevie as well?

Answer 25

Yes, I did!

Question 26

And how did you become involved?

Answer 26

During some point of Dean Silva’s questioning, Blair entered the Dean’s office. Not too long after that, the Dean left and the two kids started bickering. It seemed like regular kid stuff like tests and being smarter than one another; however, my interest peaked when I was bringing a paper to the copy machine, from my office. I heard the word “evidence”. So I went closer to the door, so I could hear what was going on.

Question 27

What happened next?

Answer 27

The conversation escalated and the two were talking about pranks. Blair mentioned something about knowing Stevie did it and that they needed to be punished for their actions and Stevie brushed it off, mentioning something about an actual prankster not being able to be expelled for the breakfast, let alone the number one student of their class.

Question 28

Did you end up getting more involved after hearing this?

Answer 28

Yes! At this point I stepped into the room, I had been heavily involved in helping the school with student pranks in the past and I wanted Stevie to know that this situation was more serious than that and that someone could have gotten hurt.

Question 29

At that time, did you continue to be involved in the questioning of either student?

Answer 29

No, because Dean Silva returned and continued to talk to the students. I did stick around for a little while but didn’t participate in the questioning, just offered background for possible criminal charges.

Question 30

And would either your or Dean Silva’s conversation or questioning of those two students be considered a “formal interrogation” at this point?

Answer 30

A formal interrogation? No, I was still holding the papers I was taking to the copier.

Question 31

How did the conversation between Dean SIlva, Blair, and Stevie end?

Answer 31

Well, Blair eventually had to leave for basketball practice. Stevie is also on the team, but I encouraged them to help us just get to the bottom of the incident, so they chose to stay instead of heading off to practice.

Question 32

When Blair Georgiu went off to basketball practice, at any point, did you or any other staff member tell Stevie Khan they were not allowed to go as well?

Answer 32

Absolutely not.

Question 33

Can you explain what happened after Blair left?

Answer 33

Well, Dean Silva continued asking Stevie about the incident, but after a few minutes, Rowan informed them that they had a pressing phone call. It was at that point that I suggested to Stevie that we give Dean Silva some privacy and invited them to come to the SRO office with me.

Question 34

At this point, can you elaborate on if you and Stevie continued to speak about the Exploding Candy incident?

Answer 34

We talked for maybe 20 minutes or so, mostly about the incident in general. Stevie still insisted that it was just a prank, but I explained the kind of crimes that they could be charged with. That is when Stevie mentioned something about how could the incident be a crime because you couldn’t break into a gym that was always unlocked.

Question 35

How did the conversation between you and Stevie end?

Answer 35

Rowan brought Stevie’s parents into the office and that pretty much-wrapped things up. They asked me if Stevie was under arrest and I explained that they were not and that Stevie was free to leave at any time, but that they may have come back to answer a few more questions if we couldn’t clear them as a suspect.

Question 36

So at no point was Stevie Khan ever placed under arrest during these conversations?

Answer 36

No, sir.

Question 37

What happened after Stevie was picked up by their parent?

Answer 37

Dean Silva came over to my office to see what had happened during their phone call. That’s when Blair came back by saying that they had more information from their talk with Stevie that neither Dean Silva or I had heard.

Question 38

And what was that information?

Answer 38

Blair relayed to us that Stevie had practically confessed and that there would likely be evidence on their phone.

Question 39

And were you able to do anything with that information?

Answer 39

Based on everything I heard, including Stevie’s incriminating statements, I had enough to formally refer the matter to the harmony PD and start a Criminal investigation. That night I wrote up a report to send to my boss. Then another officer used my report and issued a warrant from the judge for a search of Stevie’s phone and locker.

Question 40

Can you tell the court what took place after the warrant was issued?

Answer 40

Well, the warrant was issued the next day, on September 16th. Pursuant to the warrant, I searched Stevie’s locker at the school and Stevie’s phone, both of which turned up incriminating evidence.

Question 41

Being a police officer fully trained to be a School Resource Officer, do you have the authority to determine whether or not a formal investigation has occurred, or when a parent should be present?

Answer 41

Yes, I would say so.

Question 42

On September 15, the day Stevie Khan was called to Dean Silva’s office, did a situation occur where a formal investigation happened or a parent should have been present?

Answer 42

No, it did not.