A 17-year-old Camillus resident has been charged with first-degree falsely reporting an incident after yesterday’s bomb threat at West Genesee High School.
Police say Justin Clayton falsely reported that a bomb was in the school Tuesday. He’s accused of scrawling that message on a bathroom wall. The school’s 1,650 students were evacuated to buses as attendance was called. They were then dismissed from the school early as police swept the school with K-9 units from the Sheriff’s Office, State Police and Syracuse Police.
A second teen was charged in a second, separate bomb threat reported at the high school today, Wednesday, March 7.
Michayla Kelly, 16, was also charged with first-degree falsely reporting an incident today. Police say she reported a second threat after yesterday’s evacuation.
Superintendent Chris Brown wrote in his “Notes from the Superintendent” blog that Kelly tried to “copy-cat” the previous day’s threat, but was caught while she was writing the message on the wall. She was taken into custody then and charged, Brown said.
Both were arraigned in the town of Camillus court and remanded to the Onondaga County Justice Center in lieu of $20,000 cash or $50,000 bond.
Both students will also face superintendent’s hearings, considering a suspension of more than five days from school. They may also be required to pay restitution for costs associated with the evacuation, Brown said.
“The process of evacuating the building, bringing bomb dogs to school, having bus drivers available, the cost of lunches that were not served, as well as other items related to this issue all have costs associated with them,” he wrote. “These costs will be calculated and each of the two individuals responsible for our school disruption will also be responsible for paying this money back to the various organizations that were involved.”
Camillus Police, Fairmount Fire Department, the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office, New York State Police and Syracuse Police’s K-9 units responded to the school Tuesday.
Camillus Police Chief Tom Winn told the Eagle Observer Wednesday morning that Camillus Police Department detectives were working with the school resource officer to solve the case. Brown reported on Twitter at 1:51 p.m. that the person responsible has been apprehended. He broke the news of the bomb threat on the social media network, as he also does for snow days.
