Alarm Clock Prank Brings Felony Charges

Nineteen high school seniors have been charged with planting a false bomb -- a felony -- for a prank. The students sneaked into the school overnight and taped 20 alarm clocks to the walls. The clocks were timed to go off at the start of classes.

The Hendrick Hudson High School seniors appeared in Cortlandt Town Court on Monday morning. Fifteen of the 19 pleaded not guilty and four did not enter a plea because they had no attorneys.

The students are charged with second-degree placing a false bomb, which is a felony. If convicted, they each face up to four years in prison. They also
face one violation count of criminal trespass.

One attorney, John Sarcone of White Plains, who spoke outside the court, was angry that the students are banned from graduation on Friday. He said the students were innocent until proven guilty and they should not be penalized.

Dozens of other students have been ordered to perform at least five hours of community service for donating money or helping buy the clocks.

The students used a key that had been missing for a year to break into the school last weekend and then used duct tape to secure the clocks to hallway walls.

The students touched off a motion detector inside the school. State police who responded feared that the ticking clocks might be bombs and called in bomb-sniffing dogs.

"It never crossed anyone's mind that this could be taken that way," said Alex Kane, a senior who said he contributed $1 to the clock fund, told the New York Times.

One student, Ariel Billary, 18, was at the courthouse to offer support. She said keeping the students out of graduation also hurts the parents, who waited all these years to see their children graduate.