Teen Arrested After Bomb Threat Phoned In To Queens School: DA

BAYSIDE, QUEENS – A teen expelled from a Queens Catholic academy now stands accused of calling in bomb threat to the prep school, the Queens District Attorney's office said Thursday.

The 16-year-old could spend up to seven years in prison if convicted of threatening to bomb St. Francis Preparatory High School, on Francis Lewis Boulevard and Horace Harding Expressway, on April 25, said Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz.

The teenager, expelled in February, identified himself as a ninth grader named Jake when he called police and said he'd planted four pipe bombs inside the school, prosecutors said.

The school evacuated more than 2,000 students as police searched the school, but no bombs or harmful devices were found, according to the district attorney.

Investigators tracked down the Oakland Gardens teen on the messaging platform Discord where he planned the bomb threat with a person in Poland who is "known to law enforcement," said prosecutors.

The former student paid the person in Poland with some type of cryptocurrency, according to the investigation.

Law enforcement officials who found the teen also found two air pistols in his computer room, prosecutors said.

The Oakland Gardens teen faces charges of making a terroristic threat, reckless endangerment, falsely reporting an incident, conspiracy, endangering the welfare of a child, two counts of possession of air pistols and making a threat of mass harm, according to the Queens’ District Attorney's office.

“As alleged, the defendant went to great lengths to orchestrate an elaborate and realistic threat against his former high school, placing thousands of students and their families in fear for their lives,” said Katz.

The teenager is expected to return to court on Monday.