A bomb threat Wednesday at Madison Junior High School led to evacuation of the school and the cancellation of all after-school activities, police said Thursday.

The Somerset County Sheriff’s Office received word of a threat about 11:16 a.m. at the school at 205 Main St. in Madison, Sheriff Dale Lancaster said.

Deputy Lucas Libby, Cpl. Richie Putnam and Staff Sgt. Michael Knight responded while the school administration was getting the students out. The investigation revealed that about 11:05 a.m. a student approached school administrators, telling them that there was writing in the boys’ bathroom.

The word “bomb” had been written on a stall door.

Because of the nature of the incident, students were taken to different schools and were dismissed from those locations. All extracurricular activity was canceled for the day and that evening.

Lancaster said deputies and school officials searched the building and found nothing out of the ordinary. The school opened for normal classroom activity Thursday morning, he said.

Deputy Lucas Libby is leading the continuing investigation. Lancaster said he wants everyone to be aware that causing a bomb scare is a serious situation.

A bomb scare is a class D crime punishable by up to 364 days in jail and a $2,000 fine.

“This also prevents public safety personnel from responding to other dangerous situations in the community, as these calls require multiple deputies to respond and can take a significant amount of time,” Lancaster said.

Doug Harlow — 612-2367

dharlow@centralmaine.com

Twitter:@Doug_Harlow

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