Her mother had no idea she wasn’t enrolled at Quinnipiac University for the entire 2013-2014 school year. So, when Danielle Shea, 22, was confronted by her mother as to why her name was not on the list of those scheduled to receive their degree from the College of Arts and Sciences, Shea panicked. And now she’s paying dearly.
Shea was arraigned in Meriden Superior Court this morning on charges of falsely reporting an incident and first degree threatening. The charges stem from bomb threats traced to her cell phone just prior to yesterday’s scheduled graduation on the Hamden campus.
Quinnipiac University’s police say the school received two bomb threats, in a 15 minute span, late yesterday afternoon. By tracking her cell, Hamden Police were able to determine Shea was inside the school’s TD Bank Sports Center, which is where the commencement was moved to following the threats.
Hamden Police located Danielle Shea inside the hockey arena and arrested her, without incident. According to a police report, Shea said that, unbeknownst to her family, she had not attended Quinnipiac during the 2013-14 academic year because she “had trouble registering for classes due to a delinquent balance.”
With no prior criminal record, Shea’s attorney, Mark Buebendorf, requested she be released from custody on a written promise to appear. Assistant State’s Attorney Rob Mullins agreed to the request. However, Superior Court judge Philip Scarpellino questioned Shea’s trustworthiness.
“Hoodwinking everyone into thinking that she was in school and then calling in a bomb threat and, when they didn`t cancel the graduation, on the basis of the first one, she called in a second bomb threat. I mean, that`s concerning to the court,” said Scarpellino.”
Bond was set at $10,000, which her family posted before leaving court without comment. Shea, who last attended Quinnipiac during the spring semester of 2013, is due back in court on June 2.