Teen accused of plotting Ontario school shooting sentenced to probation – San Bernardino Sun

Sebastian Bailey Villaseñor is seen talking with attorney Daniel DeLimon during a hearing at Rancho Cucamonga Superior Court on May 30, 2024. Villaseñor, once accused of plotting to shoot up Ontario Christian High, was sentenced to probation on July 1 and ordered to stay away from school. (File photo by contributing photographer/John Valenzuela)

A former Ontario Christian High student accused of plotting to murder classmates was sentenced to three years of probation Monday, July 1, and will not serve any additional jail time.

Five counts of attempted murder were formally dropped Monday in Rancho Cucamonga Superior Court, where Judge Jon Ferguson sentenced Sebastian Bailey Villaseñor, 18, on a count of witness intimidation that was added as part of a plea deal with the San Bernardino County District Attorney's Office.

The sentence included 221 days in prison, which were deducted from time served by Villaseñor since his arrest in February.

Conditions of probation include weekly counseling sessions and a requirement to stay at least 500 meters away from the high school. He also cannot come within 200 meters of any other school in which he is not enrolled.

Villaseñor is not to possess any weapons, explosives or bomb-making materials. He must wear a monitoring device until the Riverside County Probation Department takes control of the Eastvale resident.

He was ordered to avoid any contact with the victim — in this case, his 15-year-old sister — except in circumstances approved by his probation officer.

On Feb. 14, Ontario police held a news conference to announce Villaseñor’s arrest. Chief Michael Lorenz said Villaseñor, who had just turned 18, was obsessed with school shootings and had access to guns. The arrest came after Villaseñor’s sister, angry over an argument with her brother in which he clenched his fist, told school officials that he had recently posed for selfies with his father’s guns in their home, watched violent videos and was obsessed with the Columbine school shootings, she testified.

Defense attorney Daniel DeLimon argued that the charges were filed only after his client provided investigators with theoretical answers to theoretical questions such as “If you were going to shoot up the school, how would you do it?” and that Villaseñor’s sleuthing down the rabbit hole was partly a result of his autism.

He never attempted to carry out any plot, DeLimon said.

DeLimon took testimony from detectives at the preliminary hearing that no one at the school felt threatened by Villaseñor — except for his sister — and that no threats were communicated to anyone at the 475-student school, despite authorities listing five specific victims.

A judge nevertheless ordered Villaseñor held until his trial. But both sides quickly agreed to plead guilty afterward, as neither side wanted to risk the outcome of the jury's verdict.

District Attorney Jason Anderson said he approved the deal because it would provide “limitations” for Villaseñor that would not have existed if he had been acquitted at trial.

The father of one of the reported victims testified at Villaseñor's plea hearing that he believed Villasenor should be in custody while undergoing treatment and that his daughter remained frightened.