Teens pay their debt to society

A couple of Hayden teenagers were busy Saturday, paying their debt to society for a bad decision last summer when they set fires in recycling bins at six area schools.

By their rash act, Chris Bonasera and Christian Lohrey stretched Coeur d’Alene fire crews to the limit last July 7. So they are spending their weekends this summer cleaning up and doing chores at the firehouse. Convicted of one count each of third-degree arson, the two were sentenced to two years of supervised probation, $5,500 restitution and 192 hours of community service. The teens had no prior criminal records and their sentence was recommended by prosecutors and fire officials because of their remorse.

Part of that community service means taking orders from fire inspector Brian Halvorson at Fire Station 1, but they also have to go from school to school telling students about the consequences of mischief. Halvorson said the pair should have a big impact on the number of fire calls his department is called to this summer.

“We consider ourselves lucky to get this chance,” Bonasera said Saturday. If he and Lohrey keep their noses clean, at the end of their probation they can ask the judge for a withheld judgment. That would wipe their records clean.

Bonasera has already paid a high price for a night that began with fireworks and ended in handcuffs. His childhood dream of becoming a Navy SEAL was dashed when instead of reporting for duty on July 22, he received a “moral disqualification.”

The pair’s PowerPoint presentation, which they will give at the Coeur d’Alene High School on Tuesday, is impressive. It includes bleak photographs of the Kootenai County Jail, where they spent four days last summer after confessing to their crime.

“Enough time to think about what you did,” said Lohrey, a University of Idaho sophomore. “It’s not something I’d recommend, ever.”

His message to other teens: “All choices have consequences.”

The teens are about halfway through their community service, which they hope to complete by late summer or early fall. Saturday they were cleaning up around the firehouse and doing yard work.

“They’re doing very well,” Halvorson said, “doing what they are told and getting it done on time.”

Bonasera said he has learned his lesson and hopes the Navy will still have him when he completes his probation.

“It was a life-changing choice,” he said.