Check of Fugitive Student's Record Showed No Problems

A Liberty High School senior, arrested in class by U.S. Marshals on Wednesday, would never have been allowed to transfer into the city high school had district officials known he was wanted for a February shooting in suburban Richmond, Va., Superintendent Joseph Roy said today.

“If we knew that he was a fugitive, there was no way in hell we would have let him into school,” Roy said. “The Bethlehem police would not have allowed it either and we work very closely with them.”

Anthony Holmes, 19, of 450 E. North St., had transferred to Liberty from a high school in Virginia in March, Roy said. He now sits in Northampton County Prison awaiting extradition to Virginia on charges of malicious wounding and using a firearm to commit a crime.

When Holmes arrived to enroll at , it “raised eyebrows,” Roy said. It is unusual for a high school senior to switch schools that close to graduation.

So Liberty’s assistant principal made a call to Holmes’ Virginia school to do a check of his disciplinary and academic record, which is actually routine procedure, Roy said.

The Virginia school gave no indication that Holmes was a disciplinary problem. School officials there told Liberty officials that Holmes was not an expelled student, Roy said. Further, Holmes academic record was sufficient to make him eligible for graduation at the end of the semester, Roy said.

Holmes’ admission to Liberty was subsequently approved.

Roy issued a prepared statement on the arrest today, he said, in response to community concerns over the arrest.

The Wednesday arrest “is of great concern to the Bethlehem Area School District and community. Student safety is our first priority,” the statement said.

“Liberty High School staff and the Bethlehem Police Department school resource officer had no information regarding the fugitive status of the student. Had we been aware, he would not have been admitted to the school.

“We will continue to follow our regular admission procedures to verify the residence, academic, and disciplinary status of students.”

Upon his arrest, Holmes told police that he planned to turn himself in after he graduated. A report in today’s Express-Times indicated that Holmes’ mother, Towanda Howard, with whom Holmes’ came from Virginia to stay, had promised to turn her son over to police during spring break, but that never occurred.