A Bomb Threat, Like Comedy, Is All About Timing
Just ask Fat Kenny:
Posted: May 9th, 2007 | Filed under: Staten IslandA New Brighton teen’s “stupid” decision to call in a bomb scare to his high school two days after the Virginia Tech University massacre has landed him in jail.
Steven Suarez, 17, of Stanley Avenue, was hanging out with his girlfriend and some buddies on April 18, when, authorities say, he caved in to peer pressure and called 911 to falsely report a bomb inside Susan Wagner High School, forcing an evacuation.
“As stupid as I am, I took ‘Fat Kenny’s’ phone and called,” Suarez reportedly confessed to the cops, according to a law enforcement source. “I’m sorry. We were making prank calls for fun.”
Authorities didn’t identify “Fat Kenny,” but the source said Suarez used the teen’s father’s phone, and police were able to trace the call to him.
It wasn’t clear if Suarez, who attends Wagner, was truant at the time of the 2:20 p.m. phone call.
Suarez was arrested Monday and charged with second- and third-degree falsely reporting an incident, both misdemeanors.
If convicted at trial on the top charge, Suarez could face up to a year in jail.
According to court papers, the call — “There is a bomb in Susan Wagner High School” — was recorded by the 911 system.
Suarez’s father, Thomas, insists that the police pressured his son to confess by saying they’d spare his girl friend.
“I don’t know what happened,” his father told the Advance yesterday. “He told me ‘Fat Kenny’ made the call.”
The elder Suarez said he didn’t know Fat Kenny’s real name, saying he doesn’t keep tabs on his son’s friends.