Charges Dropped For 13-Year-Old Boy Who Recorded Principal

MANTENO, IL — A 13-year-old Manteno student is no longer facing a felony charge for recording a conversation between himself and his school principal. The Illinois Policy Institute said in a release that prosecutors dropped the case against Paul Boron on Thursday, Nov. 15.

In February, Boron was in school at Manteno Middle School when he was called into the principal's office for missing detentions, the Illinois Policy Institute said.

Principal David Conrad and Assistant Principal Nathan Short were in the office. They argued, he said, for about 10 minutes before he told them he was recording the conversation on his cellphone. That's when the principal ended the conversation and allegedly told Boron he had committed a felony.

Two months later, Boron was charged with eavesdropping, a class 4 felony.

Terri Miller, president of Stop Educator Sexual Abuse, Misconduct and Exploitation (SESAME), thinks the charge set a bad precedent by discouraging students from exposing wrongdoing. “What child is going to come forward and try the same thing?” she said, the Illinois Policy Institute's release said. “It will have a deterrent effect on children to report, to speak up when something is wrong.”

The Illinois Policy Institute, who represented Boron, said the wording of the law is ambiguous, leaving room for heavy charges. The law says it's a felony to record a conversation without consent if there's a reasonable expectation of privacy.

In Boron's case, the door to the hallway was open, according to the Illinois Policy Institute.

“I’m just relieved and elated to know my son won’t be mislabeled as a felon,” Leah McNally, Boron's mother, said.

A Daily Journal report says Kankakee County State's Attorney Jim Rowe believes the law needs to be modified to make it more clear. “Law enforcement needs clarity as they are tasked with making decisions on the front lines; it is easy to second guess prosecutors and police, but all state laws come from Springfield and they need to clean this one up," he said, according to the report.

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