High school student arrested for senior prank
VIDEO - The teen was arrested after school surveillance cameras captured a picture of a man dressed concealing a package and leaving without it...
It was a high school prank that blew up in the face of 18 year old Rushville High School senior Tyell Morton, walking from jail to face serious criminal charges.
“It’s not right…” says Morton. “It was a senior prank. They’re blowing it out of proportion. I didn’t hurt anybody. I didn’t intend to embarrass anybody. What did I do wrong? You know?” he said.
Morton was arrested after school surveillance cameras captured a picture of a man dressed in a hooded sweatshirt and wearing latex gloves, concealing a package and leaving without it.
Believing it contained explosives, the school was evacuated and the Indiana State Police bomb squad was called in.
The package contained a blow-up doll placed in the girls’ restroom.
According to police, Morton admitted to putting the package there as a prank. He’s charged with felony criminal mischief.
A hoax that the teen’s family says doesn’t rise to the level of criminal charges.
School officials say that the prank cost them over 8 thousand dollars and prosecutors like Rush County’s Phil Caviness, don’t see the humor.
“In this post-Columbine world, that’s what you get when these kinds of things happen.”
If convicted, Morton will be jailed and face up to 8 years in prison. He will also miss high school graduation and won’t be allowed on school property.
Morton who’s a good student and teenager, never been in trouble with the law, is now wondering how a prank went so wrong.
“A senior prank, get put in jail? I hate to see what they put you in jail for nowadays, you know?” says Morton.