MADAWASKA – Four youths have been turned over to juvenile intake workers in both Fort Kent and Madawaska in connection with a bomb threat made last week and Internet threats made last month.

At Madawaska, a juvenile was charged with making a bomb threat April 4 at the Madawaska Middle-High School. Police took the 12-year-old into custody Monday night.

At Fort Kent, police were finishing up paperwork for the intake worker Tuesday afternoon. Two 17-year-old students at Community High School at Fort Kent were involved. A third 17-year-old also was charged late Tuesday afternoon.

At Van Buren, where school was interrupted March 29 by a bomb threat, the investigation is continuing.

“We are doing interviews of people,” Sgt. Tony Barker of the Van Buren Police Department said Tuesday. “We have not made any arrests.”

“We were successful in finding out who made the bomb threat,” Madawaska Police Chief Ronald Pelletier said Tuesday. “We are continuing the investigation because other people may be involved.

“We do have the writer of the threat,” Pelletier said.

The 12-year-old male is a pupil at the Madawaska Middle School. He may have been acting out after some peer pressure was involved, according to the chief. The bomb threat, which stated, “I am going to bomb/shoot up the school,” was found written on a 5-foot-by-5-foot metal stand in the boys restroom at about 1:30 p.m. April 4.

The school was evacuated and a nearly two-hour search was conducted of every room and locker. Nothing was found.

The boy reportedly has not been in trouble before. Police believed he might have been taunted or moved to write the message by others at the school.

“It seems to be a case of peer pressure from other [Madawaska] middle school students,” Pelletier said. “If others encouraged this, we want to look into that as well.”

Pelletier said the youth admitted his involvement.

“I’m glad we were able to locate the person who did this,” the police chief said of the threat, the first in nearly two decades at Madawaska.

“Things have returned to normal at the high school,” Fort Kent Police Chief Kenneth Michaud said Tuesday. “The police officer who was stationed at the school last Thursday and Monday is back on normal duty, and the school is back to normal.”

The situation at Fort Kent involved Internet threats against other students at the school made during the latter part of February and early March.

One threatening message on the Web site, from someone with the screen name of Oh My God, said in part, “You may all be glad that this will be stoping [sic] soon as i [sic] will be purchasing a gun soon and fixing my problems.”

As a result of the message, rumors circulated at the school last week that something was going to happen Thursday or Friday.

Up to 200 students stayed home Friday. Student attendance was back to normal Monday.

“It’s all done,” Michaud said. “It was just some foolishness.”