Lindenhurst Student Charged in Bomb Threat Pleads Not Guilty

A student Monday afternoon for allegedly making a to the school pleaded not guilty to a felony charge of falsely reporting an incident at an arraignment Tuesday. 

“Dominique Best has no prior arrest record…bail was set at $5,000 cash or bond,” Robert Clifford, a spokesman for the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office, said in an e-mail.

Carmelo Garufi, a Garden City attorney, is representing 16-year-old , who appeared in First District Court in Central Islip. Garufi said bail would be posted later Tuesday, and he disputed the charge. 

“There was no bomb threat,” he said. “It was an entry into a calculator, not on a computer, not on the Internet. She’s a good student, and has never been in trouble with the police before. Her teachers like her.”

The device to which Garufi is referring is a scientific calculator. And, according to the , these are sophisticated devices into which students can type words. Many scientific calculators also have a memory function, and could remain on if not shut down properly.

That’s how the message referencing a bomb threat, dated for Tuesday, was discovered by another student last Thursday, according to the district.

Once the district became aware of the message and the threat, it followed protocol, and went to Suffolk Police.

Following an investigation First Precinct detectives arrested on Monday afternoon. The district then canceled all emergency procedures for .

“We followed protocol, and we had to do what we had to do," Lindenhurst Superintendent Richard Nathan said Tuesday. “We had to act on it."

The district was about halfway through its security protocol Monday afternoon when Best was found to be the one who allegedly wrote the threatening message. It then became a police matter.

“The safety and well-being of all students and staff is always our top priority,” Nathan said. “This caused a lot of tumult and upset, and we jumped through a lot of hoops to ensure everyone’s safety.”

The superintendent said everything had gone smoothly Tuesday.

“There were no issues today, and I think everybody’s breathing a sigh of relief,” said Nathan, who noted he’ll also address the matter at Wednesday night’s Board of Education at elementary school at 8 p.m.

Editor’s Note: This is a developing story, and Lindenhurst Patch will update if and when new information becomes available.