Jon Johnson File Photo/Gila Herald: An 18-year-old man who is not a student was given a citation for trespassing after repeatedly hanging out at the Safford High School.
By Jon Johnson
SAFFORD – Some students can’t wait to move on from high school and advance their lives. Then, there are those who don’t.
While he may not quite rise to the same level as Wooderson in “Dazed and Confused” who liked to say, “That’s what I love about these high school girls, man. I get older, they stay the same age,” authorities and school administrators were concerned enough about the actions of 18-year-old Preston Yapp to give him a citation for trespassing.
According to Safford Police reports, Yapp was seen on campus twice last week. After being advised to not be on campus Wednesday after being seen with several sophomore girls, he allegedly returned Friday and was confronted by school staff while he was in the cafeteria with his 16-year-old girlfriend and several other students.
Yapp has been convicted of shoplifting and was charged with liquor in body by an underage person and contributing to the delinquency of a minor in the old Thatcher Magistrate Court before the two latter charges were dropped in a plea agreement.
Prior to that, he was convicted of two counts of shoplifting and contributing to the delinquency of a minor in the old Safford Magistrate Court.
During the Friday incident, Yapp allegedly gave school staff a false name when questioned. He later said he was on campus to meet with a teacher – who ended up having a classroom in the freshman hall – and that since he couldn’t meet with the teacher he decided to hang out with his friends at the cafeteria.
School staff escorted Yapp off of the property, so he was gone prior to police arrival. The school resource officer contacted Yapp by phone and informed him that since he had already been previously removed from the school and told not to return he would be given a citation for trespassing.
