School Bomb Threat Ends with Felonies for 3 Livonia Teens

LIVONIA – Three students at Livonia Central School are facing felony charges as suspects in a bomb threat sent to the school on Wednesday.

According to a press release from Sheriff Thomas Dougherty, two 15-year-olds and one 16 year are charged with felony Falsely Reporting an Incident in the Second Degree. Due to the defendants’ ages, the Sheriff’s Office did not include their names in the press release.

On Wednesday, Jan. 17 at approximately 4:44 p.m., the Livonia School District received a message on their school tip line warning of bomb being hidden in the school and alerting that it would go off the following day. Livonia Central Schools said that a second message was sent four minutes later, saying ‘we did not send it on purpose and we are so sorry for the inconvenience.’

The Livonia School administration and the Sheriff’s Office immediately deployed numerous resources to assure that the school was safe, including Sheriff’s Office nitrate K-9 ‘Kane’ and his handler Deputy Matthew Moran. A physical search of the school was also performed by Sheriff’s Office and Livonia School personnel. Meanwhile, the Sheriff’s Office Criminal Investigations Division was tracking the source of the online threat in conjunction with the District Attorney’s Office and the New York State Intelligence Center.

The incident was handled by members of the Sheriff’s Office Road Patrol Division, Criminal Investigations Division, Forensic Identification Unit, K-9 Unit, and the Livonia School Resource Deputy Brittany Smyder.

Also assisting with the investigation was the District Attorney’s Office and the NYS Intelligence Center.

On Thursday, Jan. 18, Sheriff’s Investigators along with the school administration continued the investigation. Investigators and school officials identified three students as suspects.

The 15 year olds were referred to Family Court and the 16 year old was charged as an adult and will appear later in criminal court.