HAZEL PARK (WWJ) - A Hazel Park Junior High School teacher is facing a misdemeanor charge after authorities say he knew about a note threating to blow up the building last week, but did nothing about it.
In fact, police claim the teacher, Paul T. Jacobs, 40, of Livonia, admitted he left the note in a way that others would see it and he would get a day off work.
While detectives are still trying to determine who authored the letter, Jacobs was arraigned on Saturday, Feb, 4 on a charge of intentional threat of an act of violence against a school, employees or students for his suspicious behavior leading up to the discovery of the note.
Hazel Park Police Chief Brian Buchholz told the Daily Tribune that they are continuing to investigate the incident, which occurred after school was let out for the day on Feb. 2.
Buchholz said multiple officers responded to the school when a staff member found the letter on the hallway floor and contacted authorities.
The note said the school would be blown up the next day, the chief added.
Hazel Park's K-9 officer was in training last Thursday with other K-9 units from the Metro Detroit area when the call came in for assistance. Police said almost a dozen explosive detection dogs and their handles arrived at the school around 6:30 p.m. and searched for bombs and explosive devices.
The K-9s failed to turn up anything, but police were able to trace the letter back to Jacobs who claimed to have found it in a stack of homework papers that students had turned in.
But surveillance video from Jacobs' classroom shows a puzzling and suspicious series of events prior to the note being discovered.
According to Buchholz, the footage shows Jacobs placing the note on a desk near the doorway in his classroom. The chief suspects Jacobs did this so that "students coming in or going out would see it."
At one point in the video, Buchholz said a girl saw the note and read it, but she set it back on the desk, where it fell facedown on the hallway floor outside the classroom.
Jacobs then went into the hallway.
“He looks around then manipulates the note with his foot and flips it over so the writing can be seen,” Buchholz said. Not long after students were let out for the day, the note was discovered by another staff member and reported.
Jacobs was interviewed by police after seeing the footage. While he denied writing the letter, police said he did admit to wanting a day off from work.
“He didn’t have a reason for not reporting the note,” Buchholz said. “He made the admission that he displayed the note so a student would find it, report it, and he would have that Friday off of school.”
“He was expecting someone to find (the note) and report it so that they would have to cancel school,” the chief continued. “That was his whole scheme.”
Hazel Park Schools Superintendent Amy Kruppe, Ph.D, said the incident has shaken up students and staff at Hazel Park Junior High School, calling the threat "traumatizing."
"Kids are, kids are scared," Kruppe told WXYZ.
The superintendent said she has maintained her focus on the students and making sure officials and families are kept in the loop regarding the investigation.
"Hazel Park police have taken every case seriously within the schools and that's wonderful because we are communicating to our community that this is not a joke," Kruppe added.
Jacobs is scheduled to appear in count at 10 a.m. Feb. 28 in Hazel Park.