This was the scene outside Newton Community High School at about 12:50 p.m. on Monday, November 5, about 40 minutes after a bomb threat was called in to the school. Authorities acted swiftly and removed all students from the school, which was then searched thoroughly by Secretary of State Bomb Squad members. The endeavor was very expensive, and the three who allegedly called in the threat probably had no idea the level of response that their alleged threat would bring.
NEWTON—A bomb threat at Newton Community High School in early November called off school for half a day and resulted in the arrests of three youths.
The Monday, November 5 threat, called in at 12:10 in the afternoon and in which the caller claimed there was a bomb in the school set to go off at 2 p.m., resulted in a mass response by all local law enforcement, fire and ambulance and even brought in Illinois’ Secretary of State Bomb Squad.
Six hundred students were evacuated and parents who ordinarily pick up their kids (both high school and grade school) after school were advised as to how to pick them up at St. Thomas Grade School, as that’s to where all 600 were evacuated. The high school building was searched, and the all-clear was given within three hours.
Sources in Newton indicate that the call was actually made from one of the boys’ restrooms. The phone they allegedly used was “found” in one of the boys’ yards; upon using it, they threw it away in the trashcan in or around the restroom, where it was subsequently found.
How it was traced back to the boys in question remains unknown at this time. Whatever the case, on that Monday evening, two juveniles, both students at NCHS, were taken into custody and charged with Disorderly Conduct. Since juvenile records are unobtainable through the circuit clerk, it’s unclear whether these Disorderly charges were filed as felonies or misdemeanors.
The next to be arrested in the wake of the threat was Dominick W. Baker, 17, whose court file was available, as he was charged as an adult.
School buses were mobilized at Newton Community High School in order to remove 600 students from there to the grade school, in order to evacuate and clear the school of any threat from the alleged bomb scare…which proved to be false.
Authorities charge that Baker “transmitted a false alarm to the effect that a bomb was concealed in the Newton Community High School, a place where if an explosion occurred would endanger human life, knowing at the time of the transmission that there was no reasonable ground for believing that there was a bomb concealed.”
Baker’s arrest came about on Nov. 6 and bore with it a cash bond of $7,500 on a felony charge of Disorderly Conduct.
All three were reportedly taken to Franklin County’s juvenile detention center in Benton; it’s unknown who has been able to post bond, if at all. All three appeared in front of a judge on Wednesday, November 7, and future hearings are pending.