Exchange student with revoked visa sent bomb threat to N.J. private school, cops say

A 16-year-old exchange student living in the U.S. on an invalidated visa was charged with emailing a bomb threat to a private school in Atlantic County that was one of several institutions he targeted, according to local police.
The student threatened the Atlantic Christian School in Egg Harbor Township on Sept. 11, sending a detailed message to the school that pinpointed where a bomb would allegedly be found in the building.
Investigators found the teenage boy, who came to the U.S. from China, was living in New York City on a revoked student visa, township police said Thursday. The teen was brought to Ocean County’s youth detention center, and investigators seized electronic devices from his home in the city, police said.
“The investigation further revealed that this incident was not the first time the juvenile threatened to commit violence at a school,” Egg Harbor Township police said in a news release. “This was just the first time he threatened to commit violence at one of our schools, and he sent multiple emails over the course of a few days.”
It was unclear Thursday if the student sent threatening messages to other schools on the same date or where the other targets were located.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security verified the annulled visa to local police. The document was revoked after leaving the private school for which he attended, police said.
The federal agency did not return a request from NJ Advance Media for comment.
The school, a non-denominational Christian institution that enrolls students from as young as 2 until the 12th grade, was searched by police after the threat was emailed. School administrators did not immediately return a request for comment.
Police did not say if the exchange student sent the written threat to a particular school administrator or elaborate on how it was discovered.
Police searched the building using a bomb-sniffing dog, but no explosives were found.
The teen was arrested in New York on Oct. 9 and jailed in a juvenile center there before being transported to the Garden State through the New Jersey-New York Interstate Compact, Egg Harbor Township Police Capt. Cherie Burgan told NJ Advance Media. He arrived in Ocean County on Oct. 17, Burgan said.
The teenager was charged with several counts of creating false public alarm and terroristic threats.
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Eric Conklin may be reached at [email protected].