TUCSON, Ariz. — Editor's Note: The above video is from an earlier broadcast.
One of the men who made national news last year after threatening to zip-tie an elementary school principal in Vail over COVID-19 protocols was found guilty in court this week.
In September 2021, Kelly Walker and two other men showed up at Mesquite Elementary School to zip-tie the school's principal, Diane Vargo, after one of the men's children was told to quarantine due to potential COVID-19 exposure.
According to the VUSD officials, the decision to place the child under quarantine was made per state policy, citing that when a school in Arizona experiences a positive case of COVID-19, it is required to report the case to its county health department - in Vail's case, Pima County Health Department.
As heard in the video live-streamed on the business owner's Instagram page, the student's parent reportedly told the principal that quarantining would force his child to miss a school field trip. The principal said one of the individuals was carrying “military, large, black zip tie" during the discussion.
"They were telling me that they were going to arrest me and my assistant. And I was scared,” Vargo said last year.
Kelly was found guilty of two charges of disrupting an educational institution. He's scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 17.
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