Tyell Morton, Indiana Teen, Could Face 8 Years Behind Bars For Blow-Up Doll Senior Prank
Playing with dolls could result in Tyell Morton spending the next eight years behind bars.
That's where the 18-year-old Indiana high school senior could likely celebrate graduation after his attempt at a senior prank backfired, resulting in a bomb squad evacuation of Rushville High in Rushville last week.
Morton insists all he wanted do was put a blow-up doll in a girl's bathroom as a joke. But when school officials saw surveillance video of a hooded figure wearing latex gloves entering a women's bathroom carrying a suspicious package and leaving empty-handed, they tipped off authorities.
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Investigators recovered the inflatable doll and arrested the teen, who has had no previous run-ins with the law. Morton has been charged with felony criminal mischief.
"It's not right. It was a senior prank," Morton told WTHR. "They're blowing it out of proportion. I didn't hurt anybody, I didn't intend to embarrass anybody. What did I do wrong, you know?"
Robert Turner, Morton's attorney, told 6News that the charges are overblown.
"It's interesting that had he gone to school with a gun, there would've been a lesser charge. It would've been a Class D felony with up to three years," he said.
But Rush County Prosecutor Phil Caviness told WTHR that the prank -- which cost the school $8,000 -- was no laughing matter.
"In this post-Columbine world, that's what you get when these kinds of things happen," he said.
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First Posted: 06/08/11 04:43 PM ET Updated: 11/15/11 05:30 AM ET