May 5 — A Boston University student who allegedly made a false bomb threat at Mugar Memorial Library Sunday night pleaded not guilty to charges against her and was ordered to a 20-day mental health evaluation, at a Monday morning arraignment at Brighton District Court.
BU police arrested Jennifer Douglas, 28, shortly after 8:15 p.m. Sunday after police and witnesses said she told library workers she had a bomb. Douglas was charged with making a false bomb threat and possession of a hoax device, said BU Police Department Sgt. Patrick Nuzzi.
Judge David Donnelly set bail at $10,000 and ordered Douglas to spend 20 days at the Eric Lindemann Center in Boston to determine whether she is competent to assist in her own defense, Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office spokesman Jake Wark said.
A second court date has been set for Douglas on May 23, at which point the judge will determine how to precede with the case. The penalty for making a false bomb threat carries up to two and a half years of prison time if prosecuted at the district court level or up to 20 years if prosecuted in Superior Court, Wark said.
“The law allows for imprisonment and incarceration for possession of a hoax device, but, at this point, it’s premature to discuss,” he said.
Douglas’s alleged threat prompted a full evacuation of Mugar Library for more than two hours. Police, fire and bomb squad officials were on the scene within minutes after library employees said Douglas approached the circulation desk, seeking to give two boxes she was carrying to the library. Witnesses said Douglas claimed she had a bomb after a circulation desk employee refused the boxes.
A photograph taken by a student after the library was reopened shows the opened cardboard boxes contained newspapers, a clock and a framed picture. Douglas was taken to St. Elizabeth’s Hospital following an interview at the BUPD station and held there until her arraignment.
Last September, Massachusetts Institute of Technology sophomore Star Simpson was charged with possession of a hoax device after she was arrested at gunpoint while wearing a computer circuit board attached to a battery at Logan International Airport. Simpson, who claimed the object mistaken for a bomb was an art piece, was released on $750 bond. Her trial will begin at the end of the month.
