NORWICH – A 17-year-old Norwich High School student has been charged with a violent felony after he allegedly made threats at the school Friday. The boy was remanded to the Chenango County Correctional Facility without bail pending a felony hearing in Norwich City Court Tuesday.

The youth, whose name and address were not released by authorities, has been charged with making a terrorist threat, a class D violent felony, and third degree menacing, a class B misdemeanor. It’s alleged that the youth, at an unspecified time Friday morning, made a threatening statement during school hours. The Norwich City Police Department was contacted immediately, said Norwich City School District Superintendent Gerard O’Sullivan, and officers promptly responded.

According to New York State penal law (Section 490.20), a person is guilty of making a terroristic threat when with intent to intimidate or coerce a civilian population, influence the policy of a unit of government by intimidation or coercion, or affect the conduct of a unit of government by murder, assassination or kidnapping, he or she threatens to commit or cause to be committed a specified offense and thereby causes a reasonable expectation or fear of the imminent commission of such offense. In addition, the law goes on to state “it shall be no defense to a prosecution pursuant to this section that the defendant did not have the intent or capability of committing the specified offense or that the threat was not made to a person who was a subject thereof.”