Bomb threat shuts FDR High; student arrested

FDR High School was evacuated Wednesday afternoon, Feb. 26, after a bomb threat was found on a bathroom wall.

A 17-year-old FDR student was arrested, and reportedly told police it was a hoax. He was charged with a felony.

According to the Hyde Park police, the department received a call from the high school at approximately 3:23pm for a reported bomb threat. School officials were alerted to a boys’ bathroom by a student who found a threat written on the wall that a bomb would go off before an assembly scheduled for 6pm.

Hyde Park Police, with two bomb-detecting K-9 dogs from the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Office, immediately responded and evacuated the building. School officials and police the reviewed surveillance footage, and identified a suspect, the report said. Detectives went to the Poughkeepsie home of the 17 year old student and brought him to the Hyde Park Police Department for questioning.

According to the police report, the student confessed to writing the threat on the bathroom wall and said it was fictitious. Police and school officials worked together to search the building, which was cleared by 5:20 pm. Students and staff were then allowed back in, and it is believed the assembly, a Black History Month event, went off as scheduled.

The suspect, whose name was not released because he may be eligible for youthful offender status, was charged with first-degree falsely reporting an incident, a felony. He was arraigned in front of Judge Kennedy and remanded to the Dutchess County Jail on $12,500 cash or $25,000 bail bond. He is due back in Hyde Park Justice Court on Feb. 28.

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