The Ohio University Police Department will not press criminal charges against an OU student for carrying a handgun onto university airport property more than two years ago, according to an OU news release.
OUPD Chief Mike Martinsen said that based on the investigation, officers would have been able to establish probable cause for the misdemeanor charge against the student. But the student will not be charged because the two-year statute of limitations on the misdemeanor has expired and some witnesses gave inconsistent testimony, Martinsen said.
OU cannot confirm the identity of the student or his disciplinary action because of student-record privacy laws. However, senior John Fry, of Piqua, acknowledged allegations against him about the airport to a Post reporter before OU President Roderick McDavis suspended him on an interim basis. A friend of Fry's who attended his University Judiciaries hearing also has confirmed Fry's identity to The Post.
If the handgun were loaded, OUPD could have charged the student with a felony, which has a longer statute of limitations, but Martinsen said it would be impossible to prove whether the gun was loaded.
OUPD has possession of the handgun brought to the airport and an unrelated AK-47 assault rifle given to the police by the student, Martinsen said.
OU employees, flight instructors and students corroborated allegations that Fry had exhibited troubling and abusive behavior
including erratic flying belligerence injurious and disrespectful actions toward women and activities involving knives and firearms
according to the release.
Fry was suspended May 3 for an assault charge stemming from an incident in mid-January. The assault charge was lowered to disorderly conduct, to which he pleaded no contest Tuesday in Athens Municipal Court.
The interim suspension from campus will remain in effect until final OU disciplinary action is complete. Sally Linder, OU's senior director of media relations, would not comment on when those actions will be finished.
In recent weeks, Fry has directed calls to his lawyer, who did not respond to messages seeking comment for this story.
17
Archives
Jessie Balmert
