Alliance teen charged with inducing panic

CANFIELD -- An Alliance teen has been charged in connection with a phone call last week that falsely indicated a gun was going to be taken to the Mahoning County Career and Technical Center.
Brandon J. Musser-Durm, 18, a student at MCCTC, has been charged with inducing panic, police said. The charge is a felony. The penalty upon conviction is one to five years in prison and a maximum fine of 10,000.
On Oct. 11, Musser-Durm called a hot line run by a Columbus company that is set up to take tips about school violence, and said he overheard a threat that a gun would be taken to the school, a police report says. The hot line called the career center, the report says. As a result of the call, the career center closed for the day Oct. 12.
Police Chief David Blystone said the motive appears to be that Musser-Durm wanted a day off school.
Blystone said that anyone planning a similar action should realize that the odds of being caught are high and the consequences are serious.
Musser-Durm was in Mahoning County Area Court in Canfield Friday morning for arraignment.
His bond was set at 8,000, and he is set to return to court for a preliminary hearing at 9 a.m. Friday. He was still at the Mahoning County jail Friday afternoon.