A teenager will serve up to five years in state prison for his role in a riot at a Fairfield youth detention facility last year.

Rockey Magar, 16, pleaded guilty in January to charges of causing a catastrophe, rioting, institutional vandalism and making terroristic threats in connection with what authorities said was a violent riot. The incident resulted in criminal charges filed against 15 juveniles who attended the Outside In School of Experiential Learning on Jan. 4, 2025.

Magar was prosecuted as an adult.

Authorities said as many as two dozen juveniles were initially involved in what was described in court documents as chaos at the residential facility for troubled youth. Magar was accused of punching a juvenile staff member in the jaw. Police said other teens threatened to kill staff members, used a floor lamp as a weapon and wielded pencils and broken glass in the melee.

Staff members said wooden handles and spoons were also used as weapons as juveniles ran and fought through the hallways of the facility.

Three teens originally charged as adults had their cases transferred to juvenile court, according to Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Brenner. Eleven other teens were prosecuted as minors in the juvenile court system, she said.

Magar, who has been held as a youthful offender at the Lawrence County Jail since his arrest, was sentenced Friday by Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court Judge Meagan Bilik-DeFazio to serve two to five years in prison. He was given credit for the more than one year he has been in custody since his arrest and is expected to be confined to the State Correctional Institution at Pine Grove in Indiana County, a facility that caters to juveniles charged with adult crimes.

Lawrence County Jail Deputy Warden Loretta Stielvogel testified Magar had been disciplined for 28 institutional infractions that include fighting with other inmates, horseplay and causing other disruptions during his incarceration.

“How did we get here? You’re only 16,” Bilik-DeFazio said. “Something is triggering you. You have the ability to be a productive adult. I’m stumped why you are in this predicament you are today. We have to figure out what we are all missing.”