A Chinese exchange student living in Brooklyn on a revoked visa is now jailed for bomb threats made to a school in Egg Harbor Township.
The 16-year-old was charged after an investigation that involved Homeland Security and the FBI, Egg Harbor Township Police Capt. Cherie Burgan said.
The Atlantic Christian School received a bomb threat Sept. 11, naming a specific location where the bomb was located, according to the report.
The entire school was searched, but nothing found, Burgan said. An explosives-detection canine was also brought in, but no explosive material was located.
The sender of the email had identified himself in his email to the school.
Further investigation found that he was a juvenile exchange student from China living in Brooklyn. His visa had been revoked after he was no longer enrolled in the private school he was attending, Burgan said.
This was not the first time the teen had threatened violence at a school. It was the first time a township school was targeted.
The teen sent multiple emails over the course of a few days.
Detectives went to New York City with a warrant to confiscate the juvenile’s electronic devices.
He was charged with several counts of creating false public alarm and terroristic threats. He is lodged in the Ocean County Youth Detention Center, awaiting a court date.
Homeland Security Investigations also has secured a detainer on the juvenile.
The township thanked Homeland Security Investigations, the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s Office, Atlantic City Bomb Squad, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York City Police Department, Egg Harbor Township School Security, Atlantic Christian School, and the NJ/ NY Interstate Compact Unit for their assistance and support with this investigation.
"We are hopeful that this juvenile will receive the assistance that he needs, but can also confidently say that this intervention and arrest was necessary to stop further acts of threatened violence," Burgan said.
