Suspect who made bomb threat says she was bullied

By MARGIE TRAX PAGE - Staff Writer - mtrax@starbeacon.com
Star Beacon

Tue, May 13 2008

— MADISON TOWNSHIP — Frustration over being bullied led a 15-year-old female bomb-threat suspect to act out, resulting in a criminal investigation and felony charges, according to Madison Township Police Detective Daniel Boerner.
“(The suspect) did indicate that she was being picked on, and the bomb threat was a release of frustration and anger,” Boerner said.
The girl, whose name has not been released, admitted to scribbling the bomb threat on a bathroom wall. That threat put the Madison Middle School in lockdown March 4 and halted voting at the building on Election Day, Boerner said.
The suspect has been charged with one count of making terroristic threats, a third-degree felony, he said.
Boerner said the girl’s mother brought her in to speak with police last week about an undisclosed unrelated matter, and officers steered the conversation toward the bomb threat.
“We were suspicious of her at that time. During the conversation, the girl admitted to writing the bomb threat,” Boerner said.
She was released to the custody of her mother pending further court action, and additional charges are pending as a result of the investigation, Boerner confirmed.
Adding to the confusion of the lockdown was Election Day voting, which was stopped for 90 minutes while officers and a Geauga County sheriff’s deputy and his bomb-sniffing dog searched the building.
“I honestly don’t think (the suspect) thought about the election and the polling,” Boerner said. “I don’t think she considered the consequences of stalling an election.”
In addition to possible jail time if tried as an adult, or juvenile detention time if tried as a juvenile, the suspect also could be responsible for any costs associated with the investigation, response and prosecution of the incident, Police Chief Leonard DelCalzo said.
“Certainly, there are a lot of costs involved in the response to a bomb threat,” DelCalzo said. “(Lake County Elections Board Director Janet Clair) had to come out and check on the workers, the Geauga County deputy and his dog were dispatched, and police and fire personnel responded to a false threat. That can get very expensive.”
Boerner said: “I hope that the courts take the situation seriously and charge (the suspect) accordingly. If only she had taken a moment to stop and think about what she was doing and think about the trouble and fear she was causing when she wrote that threat.”
Boerner said the suspect is not suspected in the Feb. 22 bomb threat at Madison High School or in any other recent threat, though officers say the circumstances are similar.
DelCalzo said school officials, prompted by recent threats, ordered the middle-school lockdown in lieu of evacuation.
“A combination of factors led to the lockdown, including recent and similar bomb threats at Madison High School, Riverside High School in Painesville, and several Ashtabula County schools. Every bomb-threat situation is unique, and given the Election Day circumstance, weather and nature of the threat, a lockdown was ordered,” DelCalzo said.