TAMPA, Florida – Two Saudi men accused of boarding a school bus full of students won't be prosecuted if they complete a pretrial intervention program for first-time offenders, the state attorney's office said Monday.
Mana Saleh Almanajam, 23, and Shaker Mohsen Alsidran, 20, were charged with misdemeanor trespassing after boarding the bus bound for Wharton High School on May 19. They told investigators they got on the bus because they wanted to visit the school and didn't know it was just for students.
At the time, the men gave conflicting reasons why they boarded the bus and were kept in jail for the weekend, police said. They were released after detectives determined they meant no harm, and immigration agents found that they were here legally.
The two men arrived in the country seven months ago on student visas and are enrolled at the English Language Institute at the University of South Florida, officials said.
Terms of the pretrial intervention program were not immediately available.
Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox