Howland girl charged with inducing panic after admitting to writing bomb threat on bathroom wall

Staff report

HOWLAND

A female Howland High School student was taken by police from the school Tuesday morning and charged with felony inducing panic after she confessed being the person who wrote a bomb threat on a bathroom wall.

The girl, a junior, was taken to the Trumbull County Juvenile Justice Center, said Howland Assistant Police Chief Nick Roberts. She will have her first hearing, called a detention hearing, today.

The girl turned herself in to school officials at 9:15 a.m. Tuesday, and school officials contacted Howland police, Roberts said.

“It was an attempt to get a day off of school,” Roberts said. “She didn’t realize the seriousness of the threat and how seriously we would take it.” A felony is the most serious type of charge and can result in incarceration. The charge is a second-degree felony.

Roberts said he doesn’t know what type of punishment the girl faces. “It will depend on her past and will be up to the magistrate,” Roberts said.

School officials reported the threat to police April 15. They found a note written on the wall saying a bomb would go off at the high school last Wednesday. Police checked the building, found nothing, then continued to maintain an extra police presence every day since then, especially Wednesday, Roberts said.