SANTA MONICA : 2 Students Plead Guilty in Assault on Teacher

Two students accused of trying to kill a teacher at a private high school in Santa Monica pleaded guilty to assault with a deadly instrument in Inglewood Juvenile Court on Monday.

The 15-year-old boys, whose names were not released, were arrested June 11 and charged with attempted murder for allegedly pouring poison into a teacher’s coffee mug while he was away from his desk.

Toxicology tests performed on residue from the mug showed no traces of poison but did find an amphetamine, imipramine hydrochloride, police said. The drug is used to treat depression and can elevate the heart rate in large doses.

One of the boys was put on probation and the other will be sent to a supervised living facility, such as a foster home, according to a spokesman for the district attorney’s office.

Several students had told the teacher at Wilshire West School that one of the accused youths had brandished the powder, claiming that it contained rat poison and an antidepressant drug, according to police. The youth told students that he intended to use it to kill the teacher and recruited the second boy to pour the mixture into the mug, police said.