A 12-year-old student at Mattawoman Middle School in Waldorf has been charged as a juvenile after making a bomb threat in a girls’ bathroom, the Charles County Sheriff’s Office reported.

Someone alerted the school’s resource officer, Officer Michael DePaulo, on Feb. 12 that someone had written graffiti in the bathroom suggesting a bomb would go off at the school the next day. Students had already been dismissed.

Evidence indicated that the threat had been written after school hours. The school was searched and was safe.

DePaulo investigated and, with the help of school staff and security cameras, identified the student responsible.

The girl was charged as a juvenile with making threats or arson and destruction of property.

JEFF NEWMAN