Ill. teacher indicted in school bomb-threat case
EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. - A western Illinois special education teacher now faces a federal indictment accusing her of threatening to blow up her school.
The indictment returned by federal grand jurors accuses 36-year-old Michelle Lynn Smith of Jerseyville of conveying a false threat. The indictment replaces a criminal complaint.
Smith is accused in Calhoun County and federal court with leaving a computer-generated note April 28 in a restroom at the Calhoun County High School in Hardin. That's a 1,000-resident town near the Mississippi River about 40 miles northwest of St. Louis.
The letter prompted an evacuation of the 170-student school, but no bomb was found.
Smith's employment status with the district wasn't immediately clear Sunday.
Smith's public defender has said his client had no means by which to carry out the threat.