By Roger McKinney

Globe Staff Writer

COLUMBUS, Kan. - Charges aren't expected until next week for five teenage boys arrested with an alleged plot to go on a shooting rampage at Riverton School.

A judge on Friday approved an order requested by attorneys for two of the boys that requires them to be presented in court on Monday.

Kansas Attorney General Phill Kline said Thursday at the Cherokee County Courthouse that charges would be filed Friday. He staged a press conference late Friday afternoon in Topeka to say that it was premature to file charges because evidence was still being collected, according to the Associated Press.

Assistant Attorney General Andrew Bauch was in Columbus working on the case Friday.

Two 16-year-old boys, two 17-year-old boys and an 18-year-old man were arrested Thursday after the Cherokee County Sheriff's Department uncovered the alleged plot.

A message posted on MySpace.com caught the attention of school officials on Tuesday, said David Walters, school superintendent. The message urged students to celebrate Adolf Hitler's birthday and the anniversary of the Columbine High School shootings on Thursday by wearing bulletproof vests to school. School officials identified and talked with the student who posted the message, but determined that there was no specific threat in the information.

Walters said rumors circulated widely in the hallways on Wednesday, prompting more discussions between school officials and students. He wrote in a memo released after school Thursday that officials had instituted unspecified actions to further ensure the safety of pupils on Thursday. The Cherokee County Sheriff's Department contacted him shortly afterward.

Sheriff Steve Norman said Thursday that a girl in North Carolina on Wednesday had contacted the Sheriff's Department in her jurisdiction about threats she learned about while communicating with someone on MySpace.com. It was not clear Friday whether the girl was communicating with one of the suspects or an intended victim, or someone on the periphery of the case. The Sheriff's Department in North Carolina contacted the Cherokee County Sheriff's Department and authorities in Cherokee County also talked with the girl.

Norman said the girl provided information about specific threats of a planned shooting at the Riverton School on Thursday. Investigators also interviewed students who identified themselves as intended victims of the shooting spree, he said. School lockers were searched, uncovering evidence of a plot, Norman said.

Two of the boys were arrested at 12:30 a.m. Thursday at their homes. Two others were arrested about 6 a.m. The fifth arrest was at 1:30 p.m. Thursday at the school.

Norman said Thursday that two of the suspects' houses were searched, and guns and knives were found in one of the houses.

Labette County District Judge Robert Fleming, who has been assigned to the case, on Friday approved orders granting writ of habeus corpus for students Caleb Byrd and James Tillman, both 16.

The orders require the two to be presented in Cherokee County District Court at 2 p.m. Monday.