BY DAVID ECK
Enquirer Contributor
FRANKLIN -- In reaction to a recent change in Ohio law, additional charges have been levied at two Franklin High School students accused of telephoning a bomb threat into the school.
The students have been charged with felonies for allegedly inducing panic involving a school, Assistant Warren County Prosecutor Andy Sievers said Wednesday. The new law was passed in July.
A senior, 17, is charged with felony inducing panic and making a false alarm, a misdemeanor. Another student, whose age and class were not released, was charged with complicity to felony inducing panic, Franklin Police Officer Chris Musgrave said.
The cases are being handled in Warren County's Juvenile Court. A student in the school office received a bomb threat shortly before noon Oct. 1, and the school was safely evacuated. Classes were disrupted for about two hours while the school was checked, and students were dismissed about 10 minutes early. There were no injuries.
The phone call was made from a pay phone in the school, Officer Musgrave said. It was determined to be a hoax.
The charges against the senior were filed Monday. The other student was charged Wednesday, Officer Musgrave said. The investigation is continuing, and other charges may be filed.
"We don't want to miss anybody," he said. "Whether we'll have more changes or not, I don't know."
The charges are groundbreaking for Warren County.
"It is the first time we've charged someone with inducing panic in a school and it being a felony," Mr. Sievers said. "It was enhanced to a felony only because it happened in a school."
The students are expected to be arraigned in the next two weeks. If convicted, they could face anything from admonishment to being placed with the department of youth services, Mr. Sievers said. "There's a whole gambit of things that could happen," Mr. Sievers said.
Meanwhile, the senior remains on a 10-day suspension from school, and the school principal has recommended the student be expelled, said Franklin Assistant Superintendent Bill Wood.
"That recommendation goes to the superintendent, and the superintendent will either uphold the recommendation of the building principal or allow him back into school," Mr. Wood said. "There will be a hearing with the superintendent."
The hearing has not yet been scheduled.
Mr. Wood on Wednesday said school officials had not yet been notified of the second student's alleged involvement and have not taken any action against that person.
