Mother of Plymouth Whitemarsh High youth held for trial

The Plymouth Township mother charged with buying weapons for her 14-year-old son expressed concerns about his military obsession more than a year before making the purchases, a school psychologist testified today.

Robyn Walchuk, a psychologist for the Colonial School District and a prosecution witness at the preliminary hearing for Michele Mashett Cossey, said Cossey discussed her son Dillon's troubling behavior, including reports he was "seeing or being touched by supernatural things."

After listening to argument from both sides, Magisterial District Judge Francis J. Bernhardt III dismissed one count of reckless endangerment and held Cossey, 46, for trial on other charges, including three felonies: unlawful transfer of a firearm, possession of a firearm by a minor, and child endangerment.

Dillon Cossey came to the attention of police on Oct. 10 after a friend told authorities the teen planned a Columbine-like assault on Plymouth Whitemarsh High School. Cossey, who is in the custody of juvenile authorities, admitting the plot and said his mother bought him the weapons, which led to charges against his mother.

Yesterday, Cossey, who was accompanied by her husband, Frank, responded with visible frustration and tears, especially after a rebuke from her attorney, Timothy Woodward, to remain silent.