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- Juvenile charged in bomb threat at the high school and junior high
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PRECAUTION IS IMPORTANT • A Juab County Sheriff’s Deputy blocks the entrance to the Juab School complex last Wednesday. A bomb threat hoax by a local juvinelle led to over 1,000 students being evacuated from the high school and junior high. The juvenile was later arrested by Nephi City Police and charged with two counts of terroristic threats which are second degree felonies and with two counts of criminal mischief which are misdemeanors.
By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
A male juvenile was charged with four counts in connection with a bomb threat that led to approximately 1,000 students being evacuated from Juab High School and Juab Junior High Wednesday morning.
Mike Morgan, Nephi City Police Chief, said that the threat proved to b a hoax.
The juvenile student, whose identity is protected by law, was taken into police custody and confessed to the crime later on Wednesday.
“He has been charged with two counts of terroristic threats which are second degree felonies and with two counts of criminal mischief which are misdemeanors,” said Morgan.
The crime of “making a terrorist threat” is a recent creation enacted at both the state and federal levels after the terrorist attacks of 9/11. It is a very general law that can be used to prosecute terrorists, but has been used far more often to prosecute situations involving domestic violence, hate crimes, bomb threats, and school violence.
Criminal mischief is a crime governed by state laws and generally involves any damage, defacing, alteration, or destruction of tangible property with criminal intent.
“We use this charge when a student defaces a building,” said Morgan.
Students from both schools were sent home around 9:45 a.m. because they share a campus, Darin Clark, Juab School District Business Administrator said. Juab High is located at 802 N. 650 East and the junior high is at 800 N. 555 East.
“Writing, which appeared to be a threat, was noticed on one of the doors on Tuesday evening,” said Morgan.
The writing on the outside of the door, in the form of a note, was found after a game at the high school proper.
He said he was alerted and responded to the scene. The note was not specific and the writing was faint. Nevertheless, said Morgan, he contacted Kirk Wright, superintendent of schools. After consideration, the decision was made to beef up law enforcement patrols at the school during the night.
The threat was not considered serious enough to cancel school.
“The next morning, Wednesday, a janitor found a more detailed threat written on the wall of a bathroom stall in a men’s room at the vocational building,” Morgan said.
That threat included the time the bomb would go off stating that it would be at 1 p.m. Wednesday.
He and Wright both observed the writing at about 7:15 a.m. on Wednesday.
“This year, there is no school resource officer,” said Morgan.
Therefore, he is the one called out first on such matters.
Resource officers provide law enforcement and police services to the schools, school grounds and areas adjacent to the school and investigate allegations of criminal incidents according to police department policies and procedures; enforce state and local laws and ordinances; and make appropriate referrals to juvenile authorities or other governmental agencies.
Juab Schools have had such a resource officer for many years. The salary for that individual has been paid by the city and the school district as a shared cost.
Morgan said that when the more specific note was found on Wednesday morning, some people were already at the school and some were on buses being dropped off or were still en route.
While the detailed threat was taken seriously, it was decided to allow all the students to arrive at the school and then, the bus drivers could be alerted and sent back to the schools to pick up the students who were bus students. Students who were on foot could walk and those who were picked up by parents could call.
Because of the close proximity of the two schools and the fact that the bomb was allegedly set to go off at the vocation building, which both schools share, it was decided to send students home early at both the Junior and Senior High Schools.
“By about 9:30 a.m. all of the buses were able to return to the schools,” said Morgan.
The two buildings and the vocational building were secured and Morgan said a thorough search was made and he, and those involved in the search, were, as a result, convinced there was no device and that it would be safe to allow the buildings to be used once again.
“There were no suspicious items or packages found and the school was turned back over to the district,” said Morgan.
He said that the Juab County Sheriff’s Office and the police department cooperated during the events of the bomb scare.
In addition, Utah County’s bomb squad and bomb sniffing canines assisted with the search.
“We also had the East Juab Emergency Medical Technicians and the Nephi Fire Department at the scene for safety reasons,” said Morgan.
Clark said that there are approximately 660 students at Juab High and another 330 at Juab Junior High.
Those law enforcement officers searched the schools, finishing about 3 p.m., and no devices were found, said Morgan.
“As the situation became more heightened, then the decision was made to evacuate the building,” said Clark.
Since the defendant is a juvenile, said Morgan, he will appear in juvenile court.
Juvenile Court is a special court or division of a trial court which deals with under-age defendants who violate any federal, state or municipal law. Juveniles over which it has jurisdiction are generally under the age of 18, but juvenile court does not have jurisdiction in cases in which minors are charged as adults.
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