PSU Police: No Charges Filed in Atherton Hall Evacuation

The suspicious-looking package that prompted an Atherton Hall evacuation last spring has not led to any citations or arrests, Penn State police said Friday.

Several hundred students were evacuated when a university worker found the item in a closet May 5. Bomb technicians were called in to examine the package, described as a plastic bottle with cylinders duct-taped to its sides and wires attached.

At the time, university police soon called it a hoax and announced an investigation at the University Park dormitory.

Reached Friday, campus police Capt. Bill Moerschbacher said the people who made the bizarre device ‘never intended for it to be placed anywhere’ or be made into a hoax. Those individuals are not facing any charges or citations, he said.

Moerschbacher said it’s not clear who put the item in a closet — or why.

‘It’s not really clear why it was placed in there,’ he said. ‘Someone could have been trying to get rid of it. It could’ve been a hoax.’

And while no one has been charged with wrongdoing in the incident, Moerschbacher said, the subsequent investigation did uncover a separate matter: a drug-law violation.

He said police discovered a small amount of marijuana and drug paraphernalia as they looked into the believed hoax. Drug-related charges were filed, but the pot is not thought to be connected to the evacuation incident, Moerschbacher said.

Earlier coverage

• Suspicious Package in Atherton Hall Deemed a Hoax (May 6, 2010)