STANDISH — A juvenile has been charged with terrorizing after several Bonny Eagle High School students received a text message Wednesday morning that a bomb had been placed in the school, the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office announced today.
A school official reported at 7:30 a.m. that a student had received a bomb threat via cellphone, said Sheriff’s Capt. Jeff Davis. Students and faculty were evacuated to Bonny Eagle Middle School next door and Maine State Police arrived with three bomb-sniffing dog teams.
Sheriff’s deputies then learned that at least two other students had received a similar message, which urged them to “tell the principle (sic) or they would be dead,” Davis said. The messages initially were untraceable because they came through a free texting website that allows anonymity.
School Resource Officer Kim Emery worked with John Moran, a county information technology technician, to trace the text message through pinger.com and facebook.com. By Wednesday afternoon, they had identified the likely sender as a student at the school.
When confronted, the student admitted to sending the text, Davis said. The student has been charged with the Class C crime of terrorizing. The student was issued a court summons and released into the custody of a parent.
The student’s name is being withheld because he or she isn’t an adult.
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