Student arrested in Butler High bomb threat case

UPDATE @ 4:13 p.m. Feb. 26:

A Vandalia Butler High School student is facing inducing panic and making false alarms charges stemming from two bomb threats at the high school and local library.

The 14-year-old freshman was arrested Wednesday afternoon.

He admitted to writing a note on the bathroom wall at school after a surveillance camera caught him leaving the restroom shortly before the message was found, Vandalia police Lt. Dan Swafford said Thursday.

According to Swafford, the Butler Twp. youth told police he left the threat to get out of school.

After the threat was found, school let out less than an hour early, the lieutenant said.

To make sure the school was safe, Swafford said “we had dogs come out and sniff the school.

“It’s a lot of man hours and … it’s costly,” the lieutenant said of investigating a school violence threat that impacts police, neighboring departments that assist as well as school administrators, bus drivers and parents who have to be notified of school letting out early.

Bomb detection dogs from Dayton International Airport Police, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Wright State University police and Dayton police helped to sweep the school. As police were investigating the school threat, a second bomb threat was reported at the Vandalia branch of the Montgomery County library, according to police.

A search of both facilities yielded no explosives.

Swafford said the freshman has no known prior criminal record, and that he believes it is the first such threat in the district this school year.

A second bomb threat was reported at the Vandalia branch of the Montgomery County library. A search of the library also yielded no explosives, according to police.

Anyone with further information is asked to call Vandalia Division of Police at 937-898-5868.

UPDATE @ 9:45 p.m. (Feb. 25): A Vandalia Butler High School student has been arrested in the bomb threat case, a Vandalia police sergeant confirmed Wednesday night.

We’re told he’s 15 and that the arrest occurred Wednesday afternoon.

No information was available about the circumstances of the arrest or the charges that will be pursued, the sergeant said, but the police department likely would have more to say about the case on Thursday.

UPDATE @ 11 a.m. (Feb. 25): Classes resumed as normal today at Butler High School, a day after a spurious bomb threat was found written on a bathroom wall.

Counselors are on hand at the high school today in the wake of the bomb threat that forced the building to be evacuated shortly before dismissal on Tuesday, according to a release from Vandalia Butler City Schools Superintendent Brad Neavin.

The district will be hosting a School Safety Community Meeting at 7 p.m. March 3 in the high school performing arts theater, according to the district. Administrators will talk about steps being taken to reinforce student safety.

Neavin said in a statement he is “confident that student safety is not at risk.”

UPDATE @ 7:17 p.m. (Feb. 24): Nothing was found after a sweep of Vandalia Butler High School by explosives-detecting K-9s prompted by a bomb threat found written on the wall of a boys bathroom, said Superintendent Brad Neavin, Vandalia Butler City Schools.

The incident is in the investigative stage, he said, noting, “There’s no reason to believe it was a credible threat.”

Neavin also said police, as well as district and school officials, have no information that any of the students would be carrying out such a threat.

What was written on the wall? “Essentially, ‘I’m going to blow this school up. I hate everybody. That kind of thing,” Neavin said.

The threat was discovered at the end of the school day, so students were dismissed early and school administration immediately called police. K-9s from Wright-Patterson, Dayton International Airport, Wright State University and the city of Dayton were brought to check the school building and grounds, Neavin said.

He said school will be open Wednesday at the regular time.

Tuesday’s incident marks the second time this month that threats of violence at the school have been discovered.

On Feb. 19, a 15-year-old Butler High School student accused of threatening to shoot up the high school was released from detention following her plea of guilty that same day, said James Cole, Montgomery County Juvenile Court administrator.

She (pleaded) guilty to the charge of making false alarms, a misdemeanor, Cole said.

The teen is now on six months probation. A judge also sentenced her to a suspended term of five days of corrections time and referred her to the court’s Life Counseling program. She spent 13 days in detention.

She was arrested Feb. 6 after police received a report from a school official that she revealed her plan to two students at different times.

UPDATE @ 3:59 p.m.: Students were evacuated from the school, according to Vandalia police at the scene.

Police advised our photographer not to move from our location, which was toward the rear of the building on school property.

FIRST REPORT

Police in Vandalia have responded to a bomb threat at Vandalia Butler High School.

Units were called out this afternoon to the school on South Dixie Drive.

We’re working to learn more about what happened and will provide updates as more information becomes available.