Teen in alleged Waseca school shooting plot transferred to facility in Willmar

By SAMANTHA MARANEL

Waseca County News

smaranell@wasecacountynews.com

WASECA, Minn. -- A Waseca County judge has agreed that John David LaDue, who allegedly planned to bomb his high school and kill his family earlier this year, could be transferred to a facility where he can more frequently receive treatment.

LaDue has been housed at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Red Wing since his arrest in late April. He was transferred Wednesday to Prairie Lakes Youth Program, a juvenile facility, in Willmar.

According to prosecutor Brenda Miller, the Willmar facility is the only one in the state willing to take the teenager.

Prairie Lakes is a locked facility with a fenced exercise yard. Unlike in Red Wing, Prairie Lakes has mental health personnel on site so LaDue can get treatment every day. In Red Wing, a mental health professional had to be called in from outside the facility to meet with him.

In audio-taped conversations with police in April, LaDue said he was "mentally ill" and that no one had noticed because he was trying to hide it.

Prairie Lakes has both a psychologist and a psychiatric nurse practitioner who can prescribe medication if needed, according to Miller.

LaDue was transferred to Red Wing in May after a Rochester facility refused to readmit him because he allegedly threatened to strangle a counselor with a telephone cord.

In Willmar, LaDue is expected to spend six hours per day in a classroom and have one hour of recreational time.

The Willmar facility, at $190 per day, will cost more than Red Wing, which was $165. The distance between Willmar and Waseca also adds to the costs to house and treat LaDue. Judge Gerald Wolf ordered that LaDue's family help pay some of the cost.

LaDue will remain at Prairie Lakes until ruled otherwise by the court.

LaDue was initially charged with four counts of premeditated attempted first-degree murder, two counts of attempted first-degree criminal damage to property and six counts of possession of explosive/incendiary device.

The attempted premeditated murder and criminal damage to property charges were dismissed by Wolf in July.