Bay City Central’s internet cables were cut during school threat, costing $13k in damage

BAY CITY, MI — The morning before a threatening note was posted on a Bay City Central High School door, someone sliced the school’s fiber optic cables, knocking out the school’s internet and phones. The damage wasn’t contained to the one school but spread to four others.

“It led to chaos at the school and certainly chaos for the district as well,” said Bay City Public Schools Superintendent Stephen C. Bigelow. “It gets the community worked up, which is understandable.”

Repairing the vandalism cost more than $10,000.

While a teenage suspect was quickly identified, arrested, and charged with a misdemeanor, nearly a year later, Bay County Prosecutor Nancy E. Borushko’s office declined to charge him with a felony for the costly depredations.

MLive recently obtained police reports detailing the investigation, obtained from the Bay City Department of Public Safety via a Freedom of Information Act.

According to the reports, Central’s principal on the morning of March 23, 2023, notified the school’s resource officer the internet and phones were down. A maintenance worker also noted some generators and a rooftop HVAC unit to the cafeteria had been turned off.

The maintenance worker determined fiber optic cables on the roof had been cut and “there was a lot more damage than he thought,” reports state. The HVAC was repaired before any of the food spoiled.

Early the next morning, a handwritten note was affixed to an entry door to the school, reading, “Im shooting this (expletive) up today. Thats not a threat its a promise.”

The note prompted officials to close classes for the day. The following Monday, March 27, another note appeared on one of the school’s doors, this one reading, “dont try to cancel today you are not safe.”

Again, officials canceled classes.

Police that same afternoon arrested a 16-year-old male suspect and lodged him in the Bay County Juvenile Home.

Investigators reviewed surveillance camera footage from the around the school recorded in the early morning of March 23, showing a person clad in black and wearing a mask walking and hanging around the school for several hours.

School staff informed police all five cables coming off the roof had been cut, some in two places, around 4 a.m. on March 23. As the cables provided internet to the district, this caused it to go out at Washington Elementary, MacGregor Elementary, Hampton Elementary, and Eastern High School, reports state.

The cables appeared to have been cut with a serrated-edge blade. The HVAC unit also had a wire cut and a fuse removed.

Police believed the teen scaled an 8-foot fence surrounding a woodchipper, then climbed onto the roof.

Fiber Link and ProTech Cabling Systems repaired the damage to the combined tune of $13,536.45.

Prosecutors on March 28, 2023, filed a delinquency proceeding petition against the teen suspect in the Family Division of the county’s Circuit Court, charging him with one count of with one count of making an intentional threat to commit an act of violence against a school, school employees, or students. The charge is a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

MLive is not naming the teen due to his minor status. Documents state he lives in Bay County under the care and custody of his mother. Records indicate the teen’s father died in 2022.

While the teen was still in the juvenile home, police served a search warrant on his home on March 30, 2023. They seized clothing seemingly matching that worn by the black-clad subject in the surveillance footage from March 23, reports state.

Police later submitted a juvenile petition request to prosecutors, requesting the teen be charged with malicious destruction of property between $1,000 and $20,000. On Feb. 29, 2024, prosecutors declined to authorize the charge.

Prosecutors’ reason for declining is redacted from the reports, and police declined to release the rationale. MLive has submitted an additional FOIA request to the county seeking explanation for the prosecution’s decision.

Likewise, the status of the teen’s petition on the school-threats charge is unknown and could not be disclosed by courthouse staff.

Superintendent Bigelow said he was aware the case was being forwarded to prosecutors and he expected charges.

“It’s a surprise to me that it was just dropped,” he said. “I have no explanation for that. I would certainly hope prosecution is followed through with.”