Reward offered in bomb threat
BY VINCENT TODARO
Staff Writer

SPOTSWOOD - The school district is offering a $500 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever issued a bomb threat earlier this month.

The threat was scrawled in a boys' bathroom at Spotswood High School and stated that a bomb was going to go off at the high school at 2 p.m., according to Board of Education President Alan Bartlett. Police are still investigating the incident, and no arrests have yet been made.

Bartlett said the threat occurred June 8 and led to the school being evacuated. The threat was found about 1 p.m., so students missed about an hour and 40 minutes of school.

The senior class was away at its annual class trip that day, he said, meaning only the junior, sophomore and freshman classes needed to leave the school. Police Chief Karl Martin, along with the high school's principal and others, moved the students into the nearby soccer fields after the threat was discovered.

The district received some help from Franklin Township, which sent two police officers and bomb-sniffing dogs. The Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office also sent help, as did the New Jersey Transit Police.

Police officers and bomb-sniffing dogs swept the building but found no devices or dangers, Bartlett said.

The district appreciated the out-of-town help.

"It was nice of those folks to sweep the building," he said.

Bartlett and fellow board member John Lavelle also were there to lend support and help.

Bartlett said he's been in communication with Martin since the incident but said police have not made any arrests.

He said police are reviewing the footage from hallway security cameras to see who entered the bathroom and at what time.

"They are looking at the tape to see who went in at that period of time," he said. "They have got it down to a 90-minute time frame."

No bomb threats have occurred since, and the high school graduation went off without a hitch Monday night, he said.

The board made the decision to offer the reward shortly after the incident, he said. After consulting with administrators, the board believed it was a good idea to offer the $500.