Two People Face Felony Charges in Fake Bomb Incident in East Hampton

Two local people are being held on $100,000 bond each today after prompting a lockdown of the school and the intervention of the state police bomb squad.

Sean Doran, 20, of 59 South Main St., and Kayla Sypek, 20, of 17 Staeth Road, were arrested Saturday afternoon by police and admitted to putting the fake bomb near the front entrance of the school, police said.

Both were charged with first-degree reckless endangerment, first-degree threatening and first-degree breach of peace, all felonies. The FBI is also investigating and the pair could face felony charges as well, police said.

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Police have checked all the other schools in town and have found no evidence of any other bombs, facsimile bombs or any other dangerous items.  The incident appears to be isolated and all the schools appear completely safe for students to attend on Monday, police said.

The incident began around 8:30 a.m., Saturday when East Hampton Police Sgt. Paul Battista and officers Michael Salafia and Hardie Burgin responded to a report of a bomb at the middle school on Childs Road.  School custodians had discovered what appeared to be a small, red and orange bomb with a timing device on the ground near the front entrance doors of the school as they were preparing to open the school for a Christian Youth Basketball League, police said.

The school was locked down and the area secured while East Hampton Emergency Medical and Fire Department personnel were summoned to the scene to stand by. The state police bomb squad was immediately summoned to the school to investigate the suspicious item. Bomb technicians examined and X-rayed the device, which was ultimately determined to be a facsimile bomb. The school was checked for any other dangerous items with none being found and was declared safe.

Police viewed the middle school's security camera footage and were able to identify Doran getting out of a car around 1:47 a.m. on Saturday and placing the package outside the school. He then was seen getting back into the car and driving away.

Officer Salafia, police said, recognized Doran, and the car. He also knew that Doran sometimes dated Sypek, and that she drove a silver 2008 Toyota Corolla, similar to the car seen in the surveillance video.

Police began a search for the suspects and around 12:30 p.m., Saturday and officer Burgin located the suspect vehicle on Staeth Road and stopped the car.  Doran and Sypek, and Sypek's 2-year old daughter, were in the car at the time. Doran and Sypek then admitted to Officer Burgin that they had gone to the Middle School earlier and planted the facsimile bomb, police said.

A preliminary investigation revealed that Doran and Sypek had entered the grounds at the Strategy Plus Paintball facility on Bear Swamp Road in East Hampton.  They found the facsimile bomb among debris at the paintball location and brought it to the school during night.