A drop-out from Quinnipiac University called in bomb threats to the school to try to cancel a graduation ceremony her family expected her to participate in.
According to NBC Connecticut, Danielle Shea, 22, dropped out of school but still collected tuition money from her family. They were at the school to see Shea, who had even bought her cap and gown, graduate.
Shea’s family didn’t see her name on the list of graduates, and she panicked, according to a police news release.
That’s when she called in the first bomb threat to Quinnipiac University Public Safety, saying there was a “bomb in the library,” according to police.
But the Hamden police and university public safety didn’t find a bomb in the library.
And Shea, who has no criminal history, called again 17 minutes later with the second threat, according to the incident report.
“Several bombs are on campus,” she said, calling from a blocked phone. “You haven’t cleared out graduation. That is not a good idea.”
The ceremony was delayed for an hour and a half as the university administration moved the ceremony to the TD Band Sports Arena at their York Hill Campus.
Hamden police and the university’s public safety identified Shea’s number through university records. After that, the police found her dressed as a graduate in the sports complex.
Shea was arrested and taken to police headquarters, where she was detained on a $20,000 bond.
And, according to the incident report, Shea said she was a student at the beginning of the year but couldn’t register for spring 2014 classes because of an overdue balance. She didn’t tell her mom, but she tried to fix the problem on her own.
But, according to the university, she is only a sophomore by credit and hasn’t been in school since May last year.
Shea told the police that she called in the threat because she was embarrassed she wasn’t graduating. She also said she didn’t want to hurt anyone and didn’t have a weapon.
Still, she was charged with first-degree threatening and falsely reporting an incident.
While the public defender and prosecutor agreed on a promise to appear, when Shea appeared in a Meriden court on Monday, the judge set a $10,000 bond, which her family posted.