17-year-old charged in bomb scares Police traced phone records in five Madawaska threats

MADAWASKA – A 17-year-old male was charged with terrorism Thursday in connection with a spate of bomb threats that put the entire community on edge.

In all, four threats were phoned in to Madawaska Middle-High School on Tuesday and Wednesday and one to the Kmart on Tuesday afternoon.

Each time a threat was received at the school, students and faculty were evacuated, and police and rescue personnel searched the facility. Police and an employee searched the Kmart, but the department store was not evacuated.

The accused juvenile is scheduled to make an initial appearance in District Court in Fort Kent today, according to Madawaska Police Chief Ronald Pelletier.

Pelletier said the terrorism charge was considered a Class C crime. An adult would face up to five years in jail and up to a $5,000 fine for each count. Pelletier did not know whether the District Attorney’s Office would file one charge for the five allegations or separate charges for each incident.

Because the accused is a juvenile, police would not say whether he was a student at the school or whether he had a previous record.

Police said they tracked the accused through the telephone records of a prepaid cell phone. Law enforcement officials were able to acquire a subpoena for the telephone records.

“The juvenile was considered a suspect on Wednesday,” Pelletier said Thursday afternoon. “He was taken into custody on Thursday afternoon.

“While we received many telephone inquiries, mostly from parents of students at the school, we received little information about this individual being involved,” Pelletier said. “People can still call us if they have relevant information to share on the case.”

The police chief said he hoped the arrest would alleviate fears in the community.

“This should reassure people, especially parents, that the school and the town is safe,” he said. “We could still have copycats, but we feel comfortable that we have the person who made the bomb threats at the school on Tuesday and Wednesday.”

The threats disrupted classes and created quite a stir in the community.

Older students were angry and frustrated that their education was interrupted, and younger students were fearful of their environment. Many parents and residents also feared the bomb threats might be real or that some youngsters might be injured during evacuations.