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Officers arrest 50-year-old man after finding guns, explosives. Kenmore neighbors are shocked
By Carl Chancellor
and John Higgins
Beacon Journal staff writers
Published on Wednesday, Sep 03, 2008
Jackie Prewitt finds it hard to believe that her neighbor, a quiet high school teacher, is in jail after police hauled away a stash of weapons and explosives from his Kenmore home Monday.
''Police hit the jackpot. I stopped counting after 18 shotguns,'' Prewitt said Tuesday morning from the driveway of her Iona Avenue home.
Prewitt said she watched as officers also confiscated what she described as grenades from the home of Benjamin B. Terril, 50, a Buchtel High School science teacher. Terril is in the Summit County Jail on charges of possessing explosive materials, carrying a concealed weapon, having weapons under disability and drug abuse.
Police spokesman Lt. Rick Edwards said Akron police received an anonymous call around 7:45 p.m. Monday, reporting Terril and another man were arguing and pointing guns at each other. Police said both men appeared to be intoxicated.
When police arrived, Edwards said, they found Terril with a 9 mm handgun in his back pocket. Terril gave officers permission to search his home, where they said they found an ''arsenal of weapons'' and an array of explosive material.
''We called in the bomb squad and ATF,'' Edwards said, adding that the Summit County sheriff's bomb squad assisted.
A half-dozen empty beer cans, a plastic bag of fruit, two crumpled dollar bills and another 78 cents in change were strewn across the front porch of Terril's home Tuesday morning. A sign hung by the front door: ''Peace to all who enter here.''
''I was surprised and shocked. You have to wonder what he was up to. It looks like he was getting ready for World War III,'' said Prewitt, who lives across the street from Terril.
Next-door neighbors Steve Swaidner and Josh Grubaugh grew up knowing Terril. The two young men, both in their early 20s, said the science teacher lived on Iona at least 10 years.
''Ben was always a good guy who kept to himself,'' said Swaidner. He said he had no idea that there were so many weapons in the house.
Grubaugh recalled that as a kid, he and other youngsters often ''played ball'' in Terril's front yard.
''He was always real nice. Sometimes he would bring us kids out pop to drink,'' Grubaugh said.
Akron schools Superintendent David James said Terril, a teacher in the district since 1996, has been placed on paid administrative leave while the case is under investigation.
According to Terril's personnel file, Terril was paid about $59,000 in annual salary for the last school year and is due to receive about $63,000 this school year.
The district also will report the incident to the Ohio Department of Education, James said.
''It then goes through their Office of Professional Conduct and they will determine whether that person will be able to retain their teaching license,'' he said.
James said he was informed of the incident Tuesday morning.
''My biggest concern is that that person is not around our kids,'' James said.
In 1992, Terril was arrested in Stark County for carrying a concealed weapon — a felony — and driving while intoxicated, a first-degree misdemeanor, according to court records.
A jury found him not guilty of the weapon charge. Terril pleaded no contest to the charge of driving while intoxicated and was sentenced to 30 days in the Stark County Jail. Of those, 27 days were suspended and he received three days' credit as long as he attended a driver intervention program.
When Terril applied for a job with Akron Public Schools four years later, he was asked on his application: ''Have you ever been convicted for other than a minor traffic violation?''
Terril marked ''no.''
The district also received a letter dated Sept. 4, 1996, from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation, certifying that the bureau had ''no record'' of an arrest record on Terril.
According to the resume in Terril's personnel file, he served in the U.S. Army from 1975 to 1991 and achieved the rank of captain. He graduated from the University of Akron in 1996 with a bachelor of science degree in secondary education and was certified to teach science and biology.
Carl Chancellor can be reached at 330-996-3725 or cchancellor@thebeaconjournal.com.
Jackie Prewitt finds it hard to believe that her neighbor, a quiet high school teacher, is in jail after police hauled away a stash of weapons and explosives from his Kenmore home Monday.
Get the full article here.
Comments
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Posted 12:35 AM, 09/06/2008
scary feller teachers get attacked sometimes that would be a first a teacher doing the shooten,wild wild west here in Kenmore
Posted 09:37 AM, 09/08/2008
what is going on?
