A Spotsylvania County man who made news when he was part of a plot to shoot people at Riverbend High School while he was a student there in 2015 was
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A Spotsylvania County man who made news when he was part of a plot to shoot people at Riverbend High School while he was a student there in 2015 was arrested on drug charges Thursday night in Stafford County, authorities said.
Stafford Sheriff’s Maj. Shawn Kimmitz said Tristen Smith, 22, was driving a 2017 Jaguar XE at the intersection of U.S. 17 and Plantation Drive when he was stopped at 9:56 p.m. by Deputy R.S. Dominguez.
Smith and his passenger, 23-year-old Summer Pennington of Spotsylvania, were both wanted as the result of a drug investigation headed by Detective N.J. Chiappini, Kimmitz said. Both are charged with two counts of possessing illegal drugs with the intent to distribute and two counts of conspiracy.
Kimmitz said illegal drugs were found in the car following Thursday’s traffic stop. Smith and Pennington are also accused in connection with a drug-related incident that took place Jan. 6, court records show.
Smith was 17 when he and another teenager were accused of planning a mass shooting at Riverbend in October 2015. The scheme involved calling in a bomb threat and shooting people as they came out of the school.
The plot was uncovered before any plan was set in motion. Court records quoted Smith expressing frustration about how he’d been treated at the school and threatening to “make everyone feel the pain they caused me.”
Smith was tried as an adult and received 10 years on a conspiracy to commit murder conviction. He was allowed to serve his time in the Youthful Offender Program, a program for younger offenders in which they are kept for up to four years.
He also received 40 years on two burglary convictions he received in juvenile court, but all of that time was suspended.
Smith is in the Rappahannock Regional Jail. Pennington is free on bond.