Job coach at Duluth high school sentenced to probation for making threats

DULUTH – A former job coach working at Duluth East High School charged with possessing a machine gun conversion kit and threatening violence was sentenced Monday to five years of probation.

Travis John Anthony Warner Busch, 36, of Duluth, had pleaded guilty to two felonies in July, after someone contacted police on April 5 about statements Busch made, sending the school into lockdown.

Judge Theresa Neo sentenced Busch to a year and three months in prison for the threats, and a year and a day in prison for the machine gun kit, but stayed each sentence for five years. Busch will remain under probation with a long list of conditions, including getting a chemical assessment and mental health evaluation, taking any prescribed medications and following program rules. He is banned from local schools.

Busch was at the high school supervising a special-needs adult working in the cafeteria as part of his job duties when police received the complaint in April from a person reporting that Busch had talked about a shootout with law enforcement, according to court papers.

Police found him and the adult he was supervising inside a dry-storage room.

A criminal complaint said Busch boasted about modifying firearms to make them fire faster and allegedly talked about shooting people in a movie theater or high school.

Authorities found a pistol in the trunk of his car, a handgun and three long guns at his residence, and parts to modify firearms that could convert them into machine guns.

Pam Louwagie • 612-673-7102