A 10-year-old elementary school student has been charged with terrorizing after making a hoax 911 call Thursday indicating there was a bomb on a school bus in Farmington-based Regional School Unit 9, authorities said.
The phone call, made around 4 p.m. to the Franklin County Communication Center, resulted in the school district canceling after-school activities and an evacuation of all school buildings and buses, RSU 9 Superintendent Tina Meserve said in a news release.
The child, whose name and sex were not identified in the release, will be referred to a juvenile corrections officer, Meserve said.
Police from several agencies were called to investigate the threat and school buses with students on board were sent to area fire departments where the students were evacuated and the buses were searched by bomb-sniffing dogs.
Meserve said the threat was confirmed to be a hoax and school will be in session as usual Friday.
Earlier in the evening, Franklin County Sheriff Scott Nichols said the call was “very vague” and said something about a bomb on a bus.
Around 5:15, he said police were still searching buses but the situation was under control.
The Farmington Police Department, Maine State Police, the Somerset County Sheriff’s Department, the Somerset Regional Communication Center, Franklin County EMA, the Franklin Regional Communication Center, the Wilton Police Department, the Winthrop Regional Communication Center, Regional School Unit 73, the RSU 9 bus garage and area fire departments all assisted with the investigation, Meserve said.
Rachel Ohm — 612-2368
Twitter: @rachel_ohm
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