(MCT) — Four teenagers face criminal charges after authorities said they called in a phony bomb threat to Hoffman Estates High School on Wednesday in hopes of getting a group of students out of class for the day.
Police said the incident could be connected to another bomb hoax at Lake Park High School's East Campus in Roselle the same day.
Sharell M. Thomas, 18, of the 7500 block of Bristol Lane in Hanover Park, who authorities said placed a series of calls to the Hoffman Estates school warning that people in the building "will die" if they're not evacuated, was charged with felony disorderly conduct, police said.
Markeisha N. Jones, 18, of the same block, was charged with misdemeanor disorderly conduct in connection to the hoax, police said.
Jones is a student at the school; Thomas is not, Township High School District 211 spokesman Thomas Petersen said.
A Hanover Park girl, 15, and a Hoffman Estates boy, 16, also face disorderly conduct charges in juvenile court, officials said.
"It was designed to get them out of class. They thought school would be canceled, and they just wanted to see what would happen," Hoffman Estates police Lt. Greg Poulos said.
Poulos said Hoffman Estates authorities are working with Roselle police and that charges stemming from the Lake Park bomb threat could be forthcoming.
Roselle police declined to comment other than to say their investigation is progressing.