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High school seniors banned from graduation after prank

The group admits they pulled the prank and agrees they should be punished, but they question whether the police should have been involved.

MESA, Ariz. - On graduation day, Christian Jimenez was looking sharp. The football player and 4.0 student has a full ride to Northern Arizona State University.

But instead of walking with his classmates, he lingered outside, getting hugs instead of his diploma.

That’s because a week before that, Christian and three of his friends pulled a senior prank.

The group chained up a door and a couple of parking lot gates at Mesa’s Heritage Academy during the overnight hours. They say the school removed the locks long before any students arrived.

Another harmless prank—or so they thought.

A week later, senior Lily Denton was arrested at school for trespassing.

“And he said, ‘Why don’t you put your hands behind your back.’ And that’s when I knew I was getting arrested,” Lily said.

She said she never got a chance to explain the situation to Principal Travis Moore.

“We’re all sitting there, crying, begging him to let me walk. He had no emotion. He just said, ‘No, you’re not walking. You shouldn’t have done it,” Jimenez said.

Lily’s mom, Jenny Denton, said she believes the move is personal, after the principal relieved her from her teaching job earlier this year.

“The administrator Travis Moore and I have had disagreements on a couple of issues this year. I think they should have consequences, and if the consequence is he chooses they can’t walk at graduation, I can fully accept that for their decision,” Denton said. “However, the police officer said Dr. Moore only wanted to press charges against my daughter.”

All four students involved, including senior Erin Berglund and her sophomore brother Sam, are charged with interfering with an educational facility.

The school told the seniors the day before graduation that they won’t walk across the stage.

The group admits their involvement and agree they should be punished, but they wonder if calling police was really necessary.

“I told him everything. I told him what I did, and he signed a paper saying he was going to be as lenient as possible with the punishments,” said Sam Berglund.

“He actually told us we put it on ourselves by not coming forward earlier,” said Erin Berglund.

Meanwhile, at the ceremony, some students inside held up giant photos of their absent classmates, ensuring their final high school memories aren’t just in the back of a pickup.

“Look at all these other schools. Their staffs are so lenient with it, and all we did was put a lock on a gate,” Christian said.

"If I could just go back and realize how much drama and hurtfulness this would create, then I wouldn'tve done it. It was honestly just a prank,” Lily said.

Heritage Academy declined to comment when 12 News reached out.

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