Bomb threat charge nets teen 30 days at Noyes

May 06, 1999|By MARLO BARNHART

BOONSBORO - A 14-year-old Boonsboro High freshman who was charged with making a bomb threat and spoke of forming a "raincoat mafia" at school Wednesday will be spending the next 30 days at the Noyes Detention Center in Rockville.

Thursday morning, Washington County Circuit Judge John H. McDowell heard that the teen allegedly said he was going to wrap up a box like a bomb, and bring guns and bombs to school, juvenile authorities said.

"He even mentioned forming a raincoat mafia and using water pistols to spray everyone," the Department of Juvenile Services caseworker said this morning.

Defense attorney Lori Kelley said this was the teen's first contact with juvenile authorities. She asked for community detention pending his hearing on charges of false statement of a destructive device and threat of arson.

Around 9 a.m. Wednesday during homeroom, a teacher overheard the student say he was going "to plant a bomb inside of the school and blow up the school," according to Boonsboro resident Deputy Jeffrey Cooper of the Washington County Sheriff's Department.

"Making threats like this under the circumstances we are living in these days concerns this court a great deal," McDowell said.

The judge ordered a psychiatric evaluation for the boy.

Meanwhile, the contents of the suspicious package that prompted the evacuation of Boonsboro High School on Tuesday were revealed.

A melted ice pack discarded carelessly by a student earlier that day for a knee injury was what was found in a hallway near the school gymnasium, said Lt. Doug Mullendore of the Washington County Sheriff's Department.

The powder found on the plastic bag/paper towel wrapping was believed to be from the disrupter used by the fire marshals to make sure it was not an explosive device, he said Thursday.

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